


File Not Found

by Skinna_the_Gecko, themostneontwig



Series: Sonic-Bot [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic), Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:14:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 71,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25821973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skinna_the_Gecko/pseuds/Skinna_the_Gecko, https://archiveofourown.org/users/themostneontwig/pseuds/themostneontwig
Summary: What if Sonic got roboticized instead of Sally?
Series: Sonic-Bot [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2059179
Comments: 18
Kudos: 78





	1. Reset

**Author's Note:**

> hey! this fic was a big group effort! we're excited to share it with you all!
> 
> also big thanks to Drawingpatchmod on tumblr for helping us out too! :)

“Mr Sonic! Mr Sonic where are you?” A little rabbit’s voice could be heard around the wreckage of the Death Egg 2.0 that had come off before its retreat. Cream, Tails, Sally, Rotor and Big (he’s Big, he’s everywhere) were wandering around the wreckage searching for their friend, Sonic. The little Rabbit was calling his name, while Tails searched through the wreckage for any sign of him. The two adults followed them, Sally looking increasingly worried with each cry for Sonic’s name while Big was oblivious to everything, glancing at a strange piece of steel or debris every once and a while. The wreckage was horribly silent. Piles of scrap and glass littered the ground. Torn wires sparking and swaying dangerously in the wind. The only real sounds that could were their echoing cries and footsteps. So when they heard the sound of someone else moving around somewhere in the distance, they were on it in an instant.

"Come on!" Tails called out, already picking up the pace, "That's got to be him!"

Sally chased after him, “Tails wait! We don’t know what it could be!” The rest of the group ran after them, the young fox leading the charge with hope. Years of keeping up with Sonic had paid off for him as he sped past remnants of the doomsday machine. Sally kept calling his name and telling him to slow down. “Tails! Stop now!” 

The fox came to a grinding halt, the sounds of movement could no longer be heard. The poor child was looking around with concern written all over his face. The group caught up to him and the princess gave him a stern look, “Don’t run off like that. You don’t know if there are some straggling robots around.”

“I’m sorry,” he said without looking at her, “I just. I just want to find him.”

“I wanna find him too,” Cream solemnly said.

"We all want to find him," Sally sighed, her tone a little softer now, "but I don't want either of you two going missing alongside him." 

The two kids nodded sadly. Sally quickly took the opportunity of the silence, “How about we regroup with the others and come back. We’ll have more eyes to search for him then.” 

"Guys," Big spoke up out of nowhere, his hand outstretched and pointing, "there's something blue and spiky over there."

"It's him!" Tails shot off without hesitation, eyes focused on where Big had been pointing.

"Tails wait!" Sally cried, cupping her hands over her mouth. After seeing that Tails was already beyond stopping, she called out something else. "Be careful!" Sally then turned to the rest of the group, "We'd better follow him, just in case that's not Sonic." Big and Cream nodded.

Tails' eyes scanned the wreckage, until he saw exactly what Big had been talking about. A blue, spiky looking figure, lying amongst the rubble. The fox boy swooped downwards towards the ground, and ran up to the figure. 

But something seemed wrong, and as Tails drew closer and closer, that feeling only grew stronger. Perhaps it was the light playing tricks on him, but there was a strange, unnatural shine all over the figure's body. Tails' run became slower, more cautious. The hedgehog's spines were oddly stiff looking, not a single one bent or flopped over. The final seal came when the creature revealed it's eyes. They were black void eyes with gradient irises changing colour as if they were glitching.

Tails recoiled in shock, staring right at what he now knew was a robot. The robot was now looking up at him, and, to Tails' surprise was making beeping noises at the fox. It was trying to get out from under the rubble, it screeched as it struggled. Tails observed it cautiously. He'd never seen this specific robot before. Another new Metal Sonic model, perhaps? 

Tails turned away, ready to leave it under the debris. The beeping grew louder, rapid and frantic. The fox stiffened, ears flopping to the side of his head. The sounds were almost as if… as if it was pleading for help. Carefully, he stepped closer to the robot, making sure to be on guard, in case it was a trick. The robot did nothing more than plead in it's strange, robotic language, and stare with wide, glitchy eyes.

Tails gave in. Maybe it was because the robot looked so much like his missing brother, but he didn't really like the thought of leaving it trapped here. So the fox boy got to work, shifting crumbled rocks and scrap metal with all his might, until finally, the robot was free. 

The robot struggled to its feet, swaying uneasily, looking rather clumsy. Then, out of nowhere, it did something unexpected.

It wrapped its arms around Tails.

The robot's grip was strong, and Tails instantly felt the air evaporate from his lungs. So it had been a trap!? He struggled against the robot as best he could.

The other Freedom Fighters burst onto the scene, forever blessed with convenient timing. Sally took the situation in quickly, and without hesitation plunged a ring blade right into the side of the robot's head. Tails was let go immediately as the robot tumbled backwards onto the ground. 

"Are you alright, Tails?" Cream asked, offering a hand to the twin-tailed fox who was gasping for air. 

"Y-yeah," Tails coughed out. 

Sally glared at the robot, towering over it now that it was on the ground. She raised her arm, preparing another ring blade. The robot let out another set of frantic beeps, and covered the damaged part of its head with its hands, in a desperate attempt to defend itself. It tried to crawl away from the angry chipmunk, using its robotic language to try to speak to her. When it realised that wasn't working, the robot switched to an entirely different tactic. Using it's hands, it acted out…

"The old Freedom Fighter handshake?" Sally gasped. Her expression flickered from rage to confusion to a look of pure horror. "S-Sonic?" The now robotic hedgehog gave a thumbs-up, head lowered to avoid seeing his friend's bewildered faces.

Sally looked at the damage she had done to her friend, and grimaced. "I'm so sorry, Sonic," the princess confessed, her voice heavy with guilt. She held her hand out, and offered it to the robian. He hesitated for a second, before accepting, allowing her to pull him to his feet. The new Robian looked at the fox with an upset look. His ears drooped down a little as he saw Tails still collecting breath.

"Can you walk?" Sally asked, recalling Bunnie being wobbly on her feet for a while after being partially roboticized. The robot nodded, but he only lasted two steps before falling to the ground letting out static cry. 

"Mr. Sonic!?" Cream cried, startled by hearing the loud metallic clang from the robian colliding with the floor.

Sonic found himself feeling quite perplexed. Why couldn't he walk right?  
Sally offered him her hand again, and let him lean on her as they walked. 

"What're we going to do with him Miss Sally?" Cream asked.

"We're taking him to Sir Charles," Sally replied, taking the lead, "he'll know what to do." Sonic tilted his head to the side, looking slightly puzzled. "What's wrong, Sonic?" Sally questioned. The answer came out as a few mechanical noises that nobody could make head nor tail of.

"I wish we could understand him," Big mumbled, studying the robot with his usual round eyes. 

"Nicole might be able to help us translate what he's saying," Tails suggested.

"It's possible," Sally agreed. She instinctively went to grab the hand-heldcomputer that was usually clipped to her boot, only to realise it wasn't there. "We'll ask her later." Sally added, with no way to contact her holographic friend right now.

"Hang in there, Sonic," Tails said, watching his brother stumble a little more. Tails felt bad for thinking his brother had been attacking him back there. Looking back, it had been much more a hug than anything else. He might be used to the new strength his robotic arms now have. The place where Sally had plunged a ring blade into him didn't look too bad, but did let off a few sparks every now and again.

Now just inside New Mobotropolis, the Freedom Fighters noticed many pairs of eyes were now on them. Or rather, many pairs of eyes were on him. It seemed nearly every citizen wanted to take a peek at the robot they were carrying with them. Sally ignored them all, and kept walking straight ahead, still supporting Sonic. Tails shot some 'it's none of your business' glares at various people. A couple of folk tried asking questions, but again they were ignored. Sally decided that she would deal with all this once they got Sonic looked at.

Keeping the time in mind, Sally headed over to the science center, hoping to find Sonic's uncle there. 

"Sally!" The princess turned her head to spot Rotor and Bunnie headed towards them.

"What's going on guys? What's with this crowd?" Rotor asked.

"Did something happen whilst ya'll were-" Bunnie stopped mid-sentence, noticing the Robian the group they were helping stand on two feet. Sonic tilted his head, why were they looking at him like that? Was there something on his face? Other than the hole in his head of course. "Oh my-"

"Is that-"

"It's Sonic." Sally replied sternly, picking her pace back up on the way into the center. "We're taking him to Sir Charles."

"And getting him out of sight," she added, quieter this time, so that only the Freedom Fighters could hear her.

Pushing the doors open, she headed inside. Sonic's eyes scanned the area, taking in every little detail, almost as if the place was unfamiliar to him. Sally frowned slightly. Hadn't Sonic been here before? 

Thankfully, Sally's prediction had been correct, as she bumped into Charles whilst walking down a corridor. Sonic came to a halt, staring at the hedgehog with a red/green eye, (the one on the damaged side of his head was no longer there, having flickered out completely due to the damage) seemingly apprehensive. "Sonic?" Sally tried to pull him forwards, towards his uncle, but Sonic resisted slightly. The robian didn't look aggressive, just...wary. "What's wrong?" 

"Sonic?" Charles approached his nephew, his voice filled with disbelief. He didn't want to believe it. Upon hearing the hedgehog's voice, Sonic seemed to warm up to him, becoming less resistant, his eyes turning almost fully green. 

"That was weird," Sally thought to herself. "It's almost like he didn't recognise him for a second."

"What's going on?" Charles asked, staring at his nephew.

"We'll explain it all soon, Charles," Rotor answered. "But the short story is that Sonic got roboticized, and he's damaged."

Charles nodded. He looked rather tense. "Come with me then." He led them through the center, towards somewhere where he could help his nephew.

"I should probably mention that Sonic can't talk like this," Sally explained as they walked.

"Can't talk?" Charles raised an eyebrow.

"Not in a way that we can understand, no." Sally clarified.

"It just comes out as beeps and boops," Big added, Cream and Tails nodded in confirmation.

Almost as if on cue, Sonic let out some beeps, boops and static noises while tilting his head in confusion. Charles returned the gesture with a confused look of his own, “Strange. Did Nicole give any insight into the matter?”

Sally shook her head, “Sonic had the handheld when everything went off. I think I saw what was left of it near the area that we found Sonic.”

Charles hummed for a second, “Well, we can always call her over while we fix him up.” Charles gestured for the group to follow him.

As the group journeyed to a room to repair the damaged Robian, Sonic took the time to look around with his good eye. He was making robotic noises of curiosity. Sally studied this action carefully. She knew this wasn't Sonic's favourite place in the world, but surely he'd been here at least once before. Maybe he was just distracting himself.

"Sit up here then," Charles patted a space on a workbench, indicating that Sonic should sit there. Sonic tried to comply, but got a total of three steps on his own before falling flat on his face, earning him sympathetic glances from his cyborg friend and formerly roboticized uncle. 

Tails lifted his brother to his feet, and helped set him down where Charles had wanted him. Sonic didn't understand. Why was he having so much trouble moving? He let out a frustrated beep as he was helped onto the table. 

After seeing that Sonic was safe and ready to be examined, Sally made her way towards another room.  
"I'm going to go see if I can get Nicole. Be back in a second."

"So, care to explain what happened now?" Charles asked, beginning to examine Sonic.

"I don't know entirely," Tails said. "But they were aboard the Death Egg II, and suddenly there was an explosion. We found him like that in the wreckage."

"With his free will already intact?" Charles frowned.

"I think so," Tails confirmed.

"You think?" 

"Mr. Sonic tried to give Tails a hug, but he was too strong!" Cream explained. Sonic lowered his head and let out a quiet beep. 

The room fell quiet as the examination was continued. "That's interesting," Charles muttered, breaking the silence.

"What is?" Asked Tails.

"He's got a power gem as an energy source. It's here, on his back, see?" Tails moved to peer at the gem. That was definitely intriguing. He'd never seen a Robian have one of those before.

"You called for me?" Everyone collectively jumped, as Nicole popped into existence before their eyes. Well, everyone except Sonic. He seemed a bit too surprised as he fell off the exam table, with a robotic squeak. Tails and Charles quickly rushed to his side to help him up. Nicole gave the group a perplexed look, “What is going on? Who is this?”

“That’s sugarhog,” Bunnie replied. Nicole’s expression turned from bewilderment to shocked. The fastest thing alive, roboticized? She faced Sonic, who was now back on the table, looking at her. Well, he kinda had to as Charles was fixing the side of his head. But the way he was looking at her, it was almost as if he didn’t recognise her. The bot let out a small bleep. Thankfully, Nicole understood it well, “Hello.”

“Can you understand him?” Rotor asked.

Nicole nodded, “Yes. It is a form of robotic speech.” Upon hearing this, Sonic started letting out variations of beeps, bleeps, boops and static. Nicole made a stop motion with her hand, “Hold on, slow down. You are speaking too fast.” The metal hedgehog stopped for a second and began speaking in the robot language again but slower. The group stood in silence while Nicole listened. At a certain point, the Holo-Lynx perked up and stopped him again, “Wait, repeat that again.” The robot repeated his last variations of beep boops. Her ears drooped to the side of her head.

Cream looked up at Nicole and asked, “What’s wrong Ms Nicole? Is Mr Sonic ok?”

Nicole shook her head sadly, “No. I’m afraid not.” She turned to the group with a solemn look, “He has no memory of any of us.”

There were a few gasps, followed by a collective stunned silence.  
"But how did he know the old Freedom Fighter handshake?" Sally asked after a while.

"I do not believe he's suffered a complete memory loss," Nicole explained. "Just a large one."

Sally took several deep breaths, making a plan in her head. "OK, Charles, Rotor, Tails, Nicole you stay here and keep working on Sonic." Those four nodded. "Cream, Big, please go and find Mr. and Mrs Hedgehog and tell them to meet me outside the science center."

"OK Princess."

"Will do, Miss Sally!"

The two set off to go and find Sonic's parents.

"Bunnie, can you find Antoine keep watch over the city? Just in case any stray badniks are lurking around."

"Sure thing, Sally-girl."

Sonic watched them all in silence. Memory loss? That would explain how he somehow knew he could trust these people, he supposed. "So, Nicole," Charles addressed the holographic lynx. "Do you know how Sonic got roboticized? Because you were there right?" 

"Yes, I was," Nicole said. "Eggman created a machine called the 'World Roboticizer'. If fired correctly, it would've roboticized everyone. All we could do to stop it was direct its blast into one small area but…"

"That's where you and Sonic were…" Tails finished, piecing the story together.

"Correct." 

Roboticized. The word played over and over in Sonic's mind, a word he'd heard many times in the past hour. He didn't know what it meant.

_"Nicole, what does 'roboticize' mean?"_

"Roboticize? Well, when someone is roboticized, they get turned from an organic being into a robotic one."

…

Sonic stared down at his metallic hands. An image flashed in his mind, the same hands but with white gloves. Was this why he was so clumsy now? Because he was usually flesh and blood? He suddenly didn't want to be a robot. He wanted to be himself, the real him! But what was the 'real him' even like? He didn't know!

The robian hedgehog began panicking, his mind stuck in a loop of questions with no awnsers. He clutched the side of his face, beeping in distress.

"S-Sonic?" Tails stared in fright at his stressed bother. "Hey, hey.” Tails took his hands into his own, “It’s ok, it’ll be ok.” Sonic fixated on the little fox, the bot looking like he was gonna cry. If he could that is. 

"It's okay, Sonic," Rotor added. "We'll get this sorted out."

Charles said nothing. Having invented the roboticizer, and knowing a lot about it, he was having some doubts about whether they would be able to turn Sonic back to flesh and blood. But he couldn't give up yet, not so quickly. "Tails, Rotor, get some tools." 

"What're we doing?" Tails asked, curious.

"We're going to do a thorough examination."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

While the three of them got to work on the new Robian, Sally stood waiting outside the science centre waiting for Sonic’s parents. She was getting so impatient that she started doing Sonic’s old foot tapping routine. Perhaps it hadn't been an amazing decision to send Big and Cream. Though she cared for and respected them a lot, she had to admit that they weren't the fastest.

Two minutes turned to five minutes.

Five minutes turned to ten. 

Sally began pacing back and forth. Then, thankfully, she spotted them in the distance, headed for her.Now that they were here however, Sally felt herself tense up inside. Something told her that delivering this news was going to be hard. 

"You wanted to see us, Princess?" Bernadette looked just as stressed as Sally, if not more.  
"Yes, thank you for coming," Sally swallowed a lump in her throat.  
"Keep it together, Sally," she thought to herself.

"I...have to deliver some bad news," Sally forced herself to keep the sorrow out of her voice.  
"Sonic has been, r-roboticized, and as a result has lost a lot of his memory."

"A-Ah. I see." Bernadette's initial reaction was short, and quietly spoken. She looked as though she was trying to keep herself together, but she couldn't stop herself from trembling slightly. Jules' expression was harder to read, but he was definitely upset, eyes angled downwards, perhaps lost in thought, taking in the news.

The two quietly took each other's hands, both in a stunned state of silence.  
"Can we see him?" Jules asked eventually.

"In a bit," Sally sighed. "Once the guys in there are done looking at him, seeing what they can do."

"Do you think they'll be able to change him back?" questioned Bernadette.

"I don't know," Sally answered truthfully. "I really don't know."

Cream, who had been standing politely nearby throughout the whole conversation, couldn't take it anymore. She already felt bad for poor Sonic, being turned into a robot and not being able to remember anything, and now she felt really bad for these guys too! She had to help!

"Don't worry!" Cream gave her best thumbs up, like Sonic always gave people. "Mr. Tails and all my other friends are super smart! They'll find a way to help Mr. Sonic!"  
Cream's chao companion, Cheese, voiced his agreement. Bernie gave the child a slightly teary-eyed smile. Her optimism was infectious.

\----------------------

Sonic made a puzzling Robian, that was for sure. He was unlike one any of the others had seen before, bearing a power gem, and somehow not becoming a mindless slave upon being roboticized. Tails and Rotor helped the robot stand up to get him out of the room. Charles wanted to scan him before doing anything.  
Tails and Rotor helped the robot walk over to an industrial radiology scanner. It stood tall and imposing, a large metal box with a small space inside to place heavy machinery.

As Rotor opened its door and Tails pushed Sonic forward, he began to beep nervously and lean away from the claustrophobic container.

“It’s alright, Sonic,” Charles said gently, glancing from the computer he was syncing to the machine. “You’ll only need to stand in there for a little bit. We just need to make sure everything is in order inside your.. inside your body.”

With a comforting pat from Tails, he hesitantly stepped inside the cavity, rapidly glancing around the small space with his one good eye. The metal hedgehog nodded and stumbled into the machine.  
Once inside, the robian stood very still, waiting patiently.

"We'll try and make this quick," Rotor reassured.

Sonic nodded, and the scan was started. Almost immediately, various images and details popped up on a screen, displaying information about what was inside of the robot. Everything seemed in order, but, much to everyone's surprise there were several areas of the robot that the device was finding unreadable. 

"OK Sonic, you can come out now!" Nicole called. Sonic stumbled forwards, and Tails quickly leapt forwards to catch him, to save him from yet another fall. 

"Sonic," Rotor looked somewhat apologetic. "I think we need to open you up."

Sonic beeped in protest, the idea of having someone poking and prodding what was inside him not being a particularly appealing one.  
"Sonic, there might...there might be something wrong with your internals. We need to check it out. Please." Tails looked up at his brother with big, concerned eyes. 

Sonic let out a noise of reluctant agreement. He would allow them to open him up. Nicole helped him get into a good position, and the others began their work.  
Almost instantly, the source of the problem made itself apparent. Though Sonic's insides were mostly mechanical, some organs remained. Lungs, liver, and a heart. Tails quickly turned away at the sight of seeing them, and Rotor, Charles and Nicole all recoiled.

"What on mobius…" Charles had never seen something like this happen to a robian. He hadn't even thought it was a possibility.

 _"Nicole, what's wrong with me?"_ Sonic asked.

"You...you appear to have some organic parts left inside you," Nicole replied, eyes wide with shock.

Intrigued, Sonic sat up a little, and with his one good eye stared down at the organic parts still inside him. Out of curiosity, he lightly jabbed his liver with the tip of his finger. He didn't feel anything.

"M-Maybe don't touch them, Sonic," Rotor advised.

"Ok, ok ok," Tails forced himself to turn back around. "S-so, what're we going to do about this?"

"I have to confess that I have no idea," Charles admitted, deep in thought. The logical step would be to remove them, seeing as Sonic already had a power source, so it was likely that he could survive without them but if they tampered with the organs...that would reduce the already slim chances of getting Sonic back to normal right down to zero. 

"We've got to determine whether we can get him back to normal before we can tamper with all that stuff." Charles stated. 

"May I offer some insight on that?" Nicole asked quietly. There were a couple of nods for her to continue. "That power gem on Sonic's back seemingly manifested as a result of the chaos energies inside him. It is the sole thing keeping him up and running right now, and if we were to find a way to change him back, essentially removing the gem from his body, I…" Nicole's ears flopped over. She spoke at a barely audible level, as if afraid of saying what she was about to say. 

"I cannot guarantee Sonic will survive."

No one dared speak for a while. 

Sonic sat, thinking very hard. It was strange. He barely remembered what not being a robot was like and yet he felt incredibly saddened by this news. He gazed at his heart, so out of place in his otherwise, metallic, grey insides. He felt an odd...connection to it. He didn't want them to take it out.

After more and more silence, Charles decided it was time to take some action.  
"That liver needs to go, I think. It's not even complete. It's just lying in there."

"What about the heart and lungs?" Rotor gestured to them.

"They're a different case," Charles explained. "Look closely."

Tails, Rotor and Nicole studied the heart carefully, now noticing a slight movement.

"It's beating," Tails gasped.

"The heart and lungs have somehow gotten connected to the rest of him," Nicole exclaimed. "But the risk of them decomposing is high."

"So we have to stabilise them somehow," Rotor thought out loud.

"Exactly," Charles started grabbing various tools from behind him. "Let's get to work."

Trying to get Sonic stable was one of the longest, and most tense hours of his life. Everyone was speaking in quiet mutters, if they were speaking at all. Sonic lay there, trying his best not to move as various parts of him were taken out, replaced or modified. Though he could not feel pain, there was something very wrong about all this poking about of his insides. Still, he tried his best to ignore it, and let everyone do their thing. 

After many more drawn out minutes, Sonic was surprised to feel his chest being closed up.

"That should do for now," Tails sighed, finally able to catch a break.

"Sonic says thank you," Nicole translated. "And he also says he wants you all to sit down and rest." 

"In a minute," Tails replied, turning back to Sonic.

"Do you want to go see your parents now? They're outside, I think, and they're probably really worried."

Parents.

Sonic knew he had them, everyone did, but he couldn't put names or faces to the word. He thought harder and harder but he still couldn't remember anything about them. So he nodded at Tails. Yes, he would go and meet his parents.

“Might I suggest a temporary wheelchair?” Nicole asked.

Rotor nodded, “That’s a great idea. It’ll help Sonic get around until he’s solid on his feet.” The walrus turned to Sonic, “If that’s ok with you though.” The Robian looked to his legs for a second before giving the group a nod.

The two brothers headed for the exit, but Sonic's parents were nowhere to be seen. Nobody could be seen in fact, until they heard noises farther in the distance. Tilting their heads up to the sky, Sonic and Tails saw the form of something big, robotic and red taking up most of the skyline of the city.


	2. Turned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> life doesn't get any easier for sonic

"What is that thing…?" Tails wondered out loud, gazing up at the impossibly large silhouette above them. Sonic's eyes were nearly pure red now, only a hint of green showing at the bottom as he too looked up at the massive robot.

"It almost looks like a metal sonic," Tails observed. "But huge, like some kind of titan!"

Sonic noted two figures near the titan. The first he recognised as Bunnie Rabbot, who he had met earlier in the science center. The other one...well maybe it was hard to tell from this distance, but it didn't look like anyone he recognised. As he looked on to the two figures fighting the giant robot, he felt something in his heart. It was like a need to go and help. Like, he was supposed to be fighting too. The feeling was so familiar.

He wanted to run up and go help out. He could beat that robot for sure!  
….Could he?

He looked down at his clunky, unfamiliar body, stuck in a wheelchair. A feeling of uselessness washed over him. 

Tails was still craning his neck up at the sky, watching the fight go down, muttering something along the lines of 'what's Naugus doing this time?'. Sonic redirected his head back up at the giant robot. Bunnie was blasting it pretty hard, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

Then, the second figure, (Naugus?) released an insanely large blast, so strong the light illuminated where Sonic and Tails were watching from. The robot stopped moving, it's body now seemingly made of...crystal? But that wasn't what bothered Sonic. No, what was concerning the robian was that Bunnie Rabbot was falling out the sky. He grabbed tapped on Tails' shoulder with one hand, and pointed with the other, frantically beeping for the fox's attention. Tails watched Bunnie plummet downwards with a look of terror on his face.

Sonic desperately tried to tell Tails that they should really go and check on her, but it was no use. The fox boy just gave him a perplexed look, not understanding the robotic speech. Frustrated, Sonic got up, out the wheelchair, and attempted to get over there himself. Three steps and he was on the ground. Everything about the way he was, the way he moved felt wrong. But what did right feel like then? Why couldn't he remember?

Tails started helping the fallen robot to his feet, but midway through got distracted by something else. A bright beam shot across the sky, coming from far in the distance. "What the-" Tails couldn't see where the beam came from, but he could see where it was headed. Right towards the city. 

The fox squeezed his eyes shut, fearing the worst. Sonic on the other hand, watched as the formerly metal titan, now made of crystal, put itself in front of the blast, taking most of the impact. Shards of crystal went flying everywhere, but very few landed near the two brothers. Tails helped Sonic back into the wheelchair, and Sonic pointed again. He needed to go see if Bunnie was ok.

The wreckage of the giant metal sonic was now filled with huge, broken crystals, and not a whole lot else. 

"Mr. Sonic!, Mr. Tails!" Cream called out to them from where she was hovering. She was holding a strange looking doll in her arms, but Sonic didn't pay it much attention. Why would it be odd for a child to carry a toy, even if it did look...creepy...and suspiciously a lot like Tails...?

"Cream!" Tails waved at her. "What happened to Bunnie!? Did you see her?"

"They had to take Mrs. D'coolette to the hospital…" Cream looked concerned. "Her body got covered in the crystals."

Sonic and Tails exchanged worried glances. "Maybe we should go check on her…" Tails suggested. Sonic nodded in agreement. They set off in the direction of the hospital, Cream following closely behind them. As they got further back into the city, a noise came to their attention.

"Do you hear that?" Tails asked.

"It sounds like cheering," Cream noted. 

As they drew closer, the crowd grew busier, thicker, and it became very clear what, or rather who they were cheering for. Right at the front of the crowd, standing on a giant slab of fractured crystal was Ixis Naugus.

Sonic glared at Naugus. He couldn't tell why, but he really didn't like the look of him. Sonic tilted his head as he looked over the crowd. Why are they cheering? Who is this guy? He could hear his voice but not make out the words. The feeling in his head is this guy is not good news at all.

"Th-they're cheering for him to become king…" Tails whispered, listening carefully to the crowd.

"But Mr. Naugus isn't an Acorn…" Cream scratched her head.

As if to answer Cream's comment, a voice came from the crowd, particularly loud this time.

"We choose the council! We should be able to choose our king too!"

Sonic knew that voice! He didn't remember who it belonged to, but he knew he felt particularly bitter towards them. His eyes scanned the crowd, trying to find the voice's owner. Unfortunately, the speaker was turned away from him, the only recognisable feature on them being a big black and white tail.

"Have you all lost your minds!?" 

Another voice Sonic recognised! But he didn't feel nearly as bad about this one. he looked up to see a pink hedgehog had climbed her way up onto the crystal alongside Naugus.

"You don't need Naugus to protect you! Me and the Freedom Fighters can do it just as well as some stinky old wizard!"

There was a definite feeling of familiarity to her voice. Mixed with a good and scary feeling. But more on the good side, he thought. He watched the chaos unfolding on top of the crystal like a play on a stage. For some reason he felt somewhat proud of the girl, stubbornly arguing with the wizard. But there was something else bothering Sonic that distracted him from that feeling, and that was that Naugus' eyes appeared to be focused on him.

"What good are the Freedom Fighters, if they cannot even protect themselves?" Naugus scoffed.

"What're you talking about?" Amy questioned.

In an instant, he was off of the crystal and right behind Sonic. Every single pair of eyes were now on the robian. Sonic grew more and more uncomfortable the longer he looked at the crowd staring back at him, until eventually he lowered his gaze so he could no longer see them. 

"Take this poor boy, for instance," Naugus cried out to the crowd. "He foolishly went off to try and protect you. But he made one fatal mistake. Do you know what it was!?"  
The crowd murmured with guesses.  
"He took Nicole! And she betrayed him! She took control of Eggman's ship, and fired the roboticizer at him!" 

"That's not what-" Tails tried to address the angered crowd, but his voice was drowned out by Naugus'.

"This child went to the Death Egg believing he could save you all from destruction, and failed miserably, because of his misplaced trust. And look at him now! No more than circuits and wires, unable to move."

"You've got it all wrong!!" Tails protested, desperately trying to be heard over the noise of the crowd. "I don't even think you know what happened! How could you? You weren't there!"

Sonic sat there, unable to speak up and argue with Naugus, with what felt like a million eyes all staring right at him. The robian wished he could disappear right about now.

"For too long you have relied on this group of children to protect you," Naugus continued. "But you need not rely on them any longer!"

"He's lying to you all!" Tails' voice was beginning to sound strained from all the yelling he was doing.

"What is going on here!?" a new voice cut in. Another one that Sonic knew, and not a bad one. 

"Elias," Tails breathed quietly, his throat sore from shouting so much. "Phew-"

"The people have chosen their king!" a voice declared. It was the same voice from earlier, the one belonging to the skunk.

"Don't you mean 'person's? There is a difference between choosing a council and choosing a king." Tails said in a snarky tone.

"How so?" the skunk was approaching now, pushing through the crowd. "With the council, we get to choose who makes all the big, important decisions. Choosing a king is no different, really." 

He turned to point at the crowd.

"Besides, saying that a 'person's' chosen' is a pretty inaccurate statement. Listen. Listen to them cheer. All the people of New Mobotropolis are in agreement."

"Stop." the other voice, the one that Sonic now knew was Elias spoke up. "You _served_ two generations of Acorn Kings before me. I won't be the one to give it up to you now."

"Really? You seemed so reasonable before," Naugus muttered.

"Enough of this!!" it was the skunk yet again. Sonic couldn't think of his name, no matter how hard he tried. "The people have spoken!!"

Without warning, Elias' crown was forcefully snatched from his head. Naugus bowed down, and let the skunk place it on his head, before rising to his feet again, golden crown glinting in the sunlight.

"They want the true king of Mobotropolis! Hail to our protector!" The skunk raised his fist, calling out to the crowd, who were cheering louder than ever before. 

"But wait!" the pink hedgehog girl desperately pleaded to the crowd. "What about Bunnie!? Are we just going to forget that Naugus' magic crystallised half her body!?"

"A minor mistake in the heart of battle. Where is she now?" Naugus brushed the hedgehog's comment off lightly.

"The hospital, but-" 

"To the hospital then!" Naugus announced. He began to march his way over there, the crowd following. The pink girl stayed behind, waiting for the crowd to clear before making her way to Sonic and Tails.  
"Sonic…? Is that you?"

Sonic beeped for yes, but he knew she wouldn't understand. 

"Yeah, it's him." Tails sighed. "And Amy, w-what Naugus said about Nicole, it's not true, Nicole didn't-"

"I know that, silly!" Amy scolded, offended that Tails thought she'd believed such lies. "How dumb do you think I am?" She turned her attention back to Sonic, "Are you OK? Naugus said some pretty crappy things back there-"

Sonic wasn't too bothered by what Naugus said, no. What bothered him was the crowd's reactions, a sea of faces looking shocked, aggressive, some even fearful. Definitely not the world's best first impression. 

"Tails, Amy, Cream?," a tired sounding voice came from behind them. It was Elias again. "Can you check up on Bunnie? I need to go and sort things at the castle."

"Sure," Amy agreed, but kept staring at the squirrel, eyes brimming with concern. "Let's go, guys."

The hospital was busy, jam-packed with potentially hundreds of people, but somehow Tails, Amy, Cream, and Sonic managed to squeeze their way in just in time to witness Naugus removing the crystals from Bunnie's body. But as the gems cleared themselves everyone quickly noticed something was different.

"H-he's derobotocized her!" Tails gasped. It was true. Bunnie's arm and legs were now made of flesh and blood again, something which no one had thought possible.

"Hey!" a random person called out. "You should try that on Sonic!"

"Yeah!"

"Totally!"

"Let's try it!" 

"N-" Naugus was elbowed slightly by the skunk. "-ot a problem at all!"  
The wizard's eyes searched the crowd for Sonic, easy to identify in his robian state.  
He strode forwards, towards the robotic hedgehog, hand outstretched.

Sonic's eyes went full red. He didn't trust Naugus. Even though a large part of him was screaming to take the offer, to be 'him' again, there was a larger part telling him loud and clear not to trust Naugus. And besides, even if he did trust the new king, hadn't Nicole said that changing him back was a big risk? Sonic didn't feel like dying right now.

He sat, glaring at Naugus, not moving an inch, "Problem, hedgehog?" Sonic nodded. There was a problem, yes. "This is a very good opportunity, boy," Naugus couldn't quite conceal how bitter and impatient he sounded. "You would be wise to take it."

Sonic shook his head. No. He wouldn't take it. The crowd was mumbling again, but it wasn't in celebration this time.

"Why's he refusing?"

"Maybe it's a trick! Maybe he's working for Eggman!"

"What if he's a spy!?" 

"Why else would he want to stay a robot?"

So many voices.

Too many.

All suspicious and untrusting.

Bunnie was doing her best to soothe the crowd's worries, but it wasn't working. So many faces, all staring at Sonic, most of them either angry or scared. The robian couldn't take it. He got up, and ran out of the hospital to the best of his ability, stumbling and tripping as he went. He wished this had never happened to him. He wished he could wake up and laugh at this stupid nightmare where everyone hated him and his body didn't work.

He somehow managed to make his way outside of the hospital, took two more shaky steps, and then collapsed into the grass.

"Sonic!"

That was Sally again. 

She was sprinting towards him, eyes wide with fear. Further behind her, she was followed by Rotor, and two hedgehogs who Sonic didn't recognise, one blue like him, the other a more purple colour.

"What happened to you?" She knelt down in the grass and helped Sonic into a sitting position. Glancing around, Sally noticed Sonic receiving many hostile looks from people coming out of the hospital. "Let's go somewhere quieter, ok?" Sonic nodded.

“Our house is not far. We can go there,” the mysterious purple lady suggested.

"Good idea," Sally agreed. She hauled Sonic to his feet, and allowed him to support himself on her. "What happened to your wheelchair?" Sally asked. Sonic pointed to the hospital. "It's still in there?" 

Sonic nodded in confirmation.

"I'm guessing you don't want to go back in there," Sally recalled the many unfriendly looking faces leaving the building.

Sonic nodded again.

Sally sighed, and gritted her teeth, making sure she had a firm grip on the robot. He was heavy, but as said before, the hedgehog family's house wasn't far from here. 

"Princess," Sally whipped around to see Jules behind her. "Let me carry him. You look like you're about to collapse."

"Cut yourself some slack," Bernadette added. "You've had a really rough day."

Sonic recognised the two hedgehogs voices now. There were definitely fond memories of them, just out of reach in his scrambled data banks. There were some sadder feelings mixed in too, but they were far less tangible to him. 

Sally let Sonic go, and the robian wobbled for a second before balancing himself out, and standing up straight. Then, unexpectedly, he was picked up by Jules.  
The bot beeped in surprise, caught off guard.

Sally motioned for them to start walking, worried by the amount of angered glances Sonic was still receiving. As they were doing so, Sonic tried to work out who these two were. The feelings towards them were a little different to his friends, more similar to how he felt about Sir Charles, who was his uncle. So...could it be that these two were his…

_"Parents?"_ Sonic pondered aloud.

"Hmm?" Jules looked at Sonic, having heard him. Didn't Sally say he couldn't talk?  
"Yes, that's us. We're your parents."  
He said it with a smile, but Sonic thought he sounded sad. It was because he'd forgotten them, wasn't it? He tried harder and harder to remember them, but it wasn't working. 

_"You can hear me?"_ Sonic asked, surprised, but in a good way for once.

"Others can't?" Jules sounded equally as surprised as Sonic.

_"Nobody except Nicole."_ Sonic answered, sounding disheartened.

"Did Nicole tell you why?"

_"I'm stuck using this weird robotic speech and we don't know why. But I guess other robots understand robotic speech too, even if they themselves speak like everyone else."_ Sonic explained. As the day had gone on, he'd become more and more frustrated with his inability to communicate with nearly everyone he'd met.

"I suppose that would make sense."

There was a small pause, a few seconds where no one spoke.

_"Can I ask a question?"_

"Go for it."

_"I wasn't born as a robot, right? Why're you one too?"_

"Ah," Jules was caught slightly off guard by the question, though it was probably one he should've expected in hindsight. "Well, the roboticizer wasn't originally meant to hurt or enslave people. Quite the opposite actually. Your uncle wanted to help people, the wounded and the sick. He used it to save my life."

It was a simplified version of the story, but now might not be the time to get into all the details of the whole situation.

_"So you weren't always a robot either?"_

"No, not always."

Another moment of silence came and went.

_"Does it get any easier? Walking and stuff, I mean."_

"I wouldn't really know, I was a special case. You're probably better off asking your friend Bunnie about that."

_"Maybe. She's not half robot anymore though."_

"What?" Jules exclaimed, loud enough for the others to take notice. Hadn't that been thought impossible at one point?

_"Naugus turned her arm and legs back to flesh in the hospital."_

"What is it, Jules?" Sally asked, only able to understand one half of the conversation that was being had. 

"Apparently Naugus found a way to derobotocize Bunnie." Jules explained.

Sally and Rotor exchanged slightly puzzled looks.  
"I'll check up on her after we get Sonic back, then." Sally noted to herself out loud.

"Good idea," Rotor nodded. "I'll come too, if you like."

Before they knew it, they'd reached the house. Bernie was right, it wasn't far. Sally let the others go in first, hanging back before she herself went in. She thought she could hear more cheering and shouting in the distance. Hopefully it was nothing to worry about.

“Princess.” Sally turned around to see Bernie standing before her, “If it is not too much to ask. How did this happen?”

Sally clutched her left arm with her hand, looking down at the ground in sadness, “It’s a bit of a long story.” Their attention was grabbed by beeping coming from the living room. Sonic was now sitting on one of the sofas looking in their direction.

“He said he wanted to know what happened too,” Jules translated.

The princess sighed, “Well, Sonic and I went to the Death Egg to see what Eggman’s plans were and if we could stop it. His plans were to robotisize the entire world, while those already or partially would...” she took a shaking breath remembering the implications, “explode.” Sonic’s parents and Rotor gasped, while Sonic stared in shock. Sally continued, “Nicole managed to figure a way to stop it, but it required us to take her to the Death Egg’s engine. Sonic told me to get out of there while he took Nicole to the engine. I kept trying to convince him that I can handle this but he wouldn’t have it. At one point in our argument, he must have gotten fed up. He snatched Nicole out of my hands and ran off.”

As if summoned by being mentioned, Nicole popped into the middle of the room.  
"Sorry to interrupt you Sally, but I happen to have retrieved security footage from the Death Egg II, if you wish to see it?"

Sally looked around the room. Seeing the footage would definitely make for an easier explanation but…

"Is everyone ok with seeing this footage?"

Three nods.

"Alright then, Nicole. Play it for us." The Holo-Lynx nodded. Her eyes glowed and shot out a hologram of footage from inside the Death Egg. The new Robian let out a robotic ‘ooh’ as he watched Nicole flick through the footage.

_The footage cut to a blue hedgehog rushing into an engine and smashing his hand onto a keypad, making the large door behind him slam shut. A loud thud could be heard from the door. “Hopefully that’ll give us the time we need.”_  
The Robian perked up at the sound of the voice, he knew that voice for sure.

_The hedgehog in the footage moved to a panel next to the engine and held up a device, “This it, Nicole?”_

_“Yes, but, Sonic I do not know what will happen if this works.” Sonic completely ignored the warning as he removed the panel, “Sonic, this could kill you or worse, Roboticized. Do you remember the last time you were-.”_

_The hedgehog cut him off, “Yeah, but you guys managed.” He continued hooking Nicole into the Engine._

_“Barely! We don’t have a way to deroboticize you if that happens. Think about this!”_

_Sonic stopped for a moment and took a deep breath before asking, “Me or the world?”_

_“What?” Nicole responded in confusion._

_Sonic sat on the ground and held the device in both hands, “Which one do you think I’m going to care about more? Me? Or the world?” The video was dead silent. Banging at the large reinforced was the only thing that could be heard._

_Half a minute passed before Nicole spoke again. "...It's ready, Sonic. Please brace yourself, I hear this process is painful."_

_"Thank you, Nicole." Sonic got to his feet. He was ready, fists clenched, awaiting the pain. The idea of becoming Eggman's slave was a nasty one, but this was for the fate of the entire world. Besides, his friends would come save him, like he knew they could. Everyone of them was so skilled and talented. He had complete faith in them. The hedgehog let out a sad chuckle as the large engine started making noises, “Guess there’s somethings you just can’t out run.”_

_The engine room exploded with a blinding white light. Sonic's eyes were forced shut, and he fell to the floor, his body suddenly feeling weak. His feet felt incredibly numb. Forcing himself to peel his eyelids open, squinting against the bright light, Sonic looked down to see what looked like his shoes, but metal. He couldn't feel his feet inside them, nor could he lift them up. They were too heavy for his legs to comply. No turning back now._

_The transformation crept up his legs. Sonic gasped in pain. He could feel his skin being stretched out as though he was made of putty, followed by a sharp, hard coldness, and then, finally, nothing at all. The hedgehog yelped as he felt change begin on his torso and hands. His hands and fingers swelled, becoming slightly bigger. Good for grabbing but not a whole lot else. His wrists became impossibly bulky, and that continued up until his elbows._

_Last to go was his head. It started at the bottom of his spines and muzzle. Groaning in disgust, Sonic realised he could taste the metal slowly invading his mouth, before he couldn't taste anything. His groans trailed off into slow beeping noises._

_Wait what?  
If he still had a heart, it definitely just skipped a beat._

_Sonic tried to speak, but it wasn't coming out as words. Just mechanical noises. His friends weren't going to like that. Friends? He suddenly couldn't remember their names and faces. Were they even real to begin with? Did he have friends? As the transformation neared the tips of his ears, Sonic looked at the crumbling room around him. Why was he here again? He must've gotten in here somehow but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't remember. The floor underneath him was unstable. The camera footage cut as the engine room was destroyed._

Sonic watched, eyes glued to the screen. He couldn't look away. An air of shock hung over the room, no one daring to speak. Having seen his past self just made Sonic more frustrated with his lack of memories. They seemed so close, yet somehow also far away. As though they were in his reach, but there was a wall stopping him from grabbing them. He kept trying to remember, forcing himself to focus every inch of his mind on retrieving his memories.

There was a ringing in his ears, growing louder the more he focused. Electrical jolts were going through his head, growing increasingly more painful the longer he kept trying. But he couldn't stop, he had to get this whole thing figured out. The jolts were becoming unbearably painful. He grabbed his ears in a futile attempt to stop the ringing. Images were flashing through his mind, new yet familiar too, tiny snippets of his old life. A peaceful forest. A triumphant victory. He pushed through the pain. He needed to see more.

The jolts started going through his entire body, causing him to jump and shake. Bernadette had taken notice by now. She approached her distraught son cautiously, and knelt down so that she was on eye level with him.

"Sonic," she tried asking his name, but got no response. 

"Sonic." Her voice was firmer this time, and she was met with a response. Red eyes met her own.

"Hey," Now that she had his attention, Bernie softened her voice. "It's okay. You're here. You're in the house. You're safe here."

Sonic slowly removed his hands from his ears, the ringing dying down as he focused more on his mother's voice then retrieving his lost memories, slowly returning to reality. Hints of green managed to creep back into his otherwise red eyes. 

"What's wrong, Sonic?" Bernadette slowly moved to sit on the sofa, next to Sonic. The robian beeped, stuttering, at first before slowing down. 

"He's trying to get his memories back," Jules translated. "But something's stopping him." He listened closely. "It's hurting him." 

"Oh, Sonic." Bernie sighed, at a loss for words. She couldn't imagine how painful it must be, desperately scrambling to pick up old memories, but them always being just out of reach. 

"...Hug?" She held her arms out for him. Sonic cautiously accepted, very careful not to crush her like he'd nearly done with Tails earlier. There was quiet for a few moments, before Bernie spoke up again. "I'm sure there are less painful ways to restore your memories. I wouldn't try and force them to come back right now."

Sonic beeped, then letting Jules translate.

"Well, I'm no expert, of course, but we could always try and jog them somehow. Like showing you photos or familiar places and things?" 

"That could work," Nicole speculated. "From what I've observed, Sonic has all his memories stored inside him, so to speak, but is having trouble with recalling them. So trying to use prompts could be a valid strategy.”

Before the theory could be tested, a loud noise of yelling and chanting could be heard outside. The occupants of the house grew worried as it came closer and closer to the house. Sonic was becoming anxious again, he started shaking in his mother’s arms. The princess went to check what it was. The noise was a mob outside, with pitchforks and torches. They were screaming that they wanted the ‘menace’ out of their city. Who was leading the charge? None other than that Skunk. Sally turned to the group inside to see Sonic covering his robotic ears and shaking in terror. She hadn’t seen him like this before.

"What on mobius is going on out there!?" Sally frowned angrily. A mob? And who was this 'menace'? Geoffrey was headed straight for them. ....No...he wouldn't….

The mob wasn't calling for Sonic to be driven out of the city, were they? 

She turned her attention to the frightened robian. What had happened back in the hospital?

"What?" Nicole knelt down, listening to Sonic. "That's insanity! They can't possibly be trying to drive you out over that!"

"What happened?" Bernadette asked, peering out at the angered crowd. 

"Well, Sonic said that Naugus offered him a chance to be derobotocized, but he didn't take it, and that upset them, but that seems a very irrational thing to start a mob over…" Nicole explained. 

There was a banging on the door, furious and persistent. "They're going to break this thing down in a minute," Sally muttered, trying to keep it shut. 

"What're we going to do?" Nicole looked extremely tense. 

"Stand our ground," Sally replied. "We're not letting them kick him out."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Sally stood away from the door, and none other than Geoffrey St. John barged his way in.

"Nice of you to step away and let me take him," the skunk glanced at Sonic.

"We're not here to give him up," Sally stood in front of Sonic protectively, the others doing the same. "What're you doing, Geoffrey? Why've you brought a mob?"

"King's orders," he replied. "The king doesn't want any threats to his city lurking around."

"Sonic isn't a threat to anyone in this city!" Bernadette protested.

"No? Don't you find it suspicious that he would choose to stay an Eggman robot?" Geoffrey questioned.

"He can't be changed back," Nicole pointed out.

"Everyone thought the same about Bunnie, and yet here we are," Geoffrey just wouldn't shut up.

"Those are two very different cases," Sally explained angrily. "If Sonic is changed back he'll die!" 

By now the mob was getting impatient. Several mobians pushed past Geoffrey into the house, and collectively grabbed Sonic, dragging him out into the sea of unreasonably furious people. Sally watched in a desperate panic. She could barely even see Sonic now, but it sounded like he was taking a beating. Sure enough, once the robot's head resurfaced, he was already looking terrible. There were too many people to get to Sonic, and with how he was being tossed through the crowd it would be near impossible even if she could push through. A plan formed in her mind, but she didn't like it. Oh well, the focus now was more on making sure Sonic wasn't destroyed.

"ENOUGH," Sally shouted. The mob paused. "We'll remove Sonic. Just put him down, and go home."

Sonic was carelessly tossed on the floor, and the crowd slowly moved away, a lot of them cheering or looking pleased. Once they were got, Sally and the others headed forwards and knelt down, next to the battered robian.

"I'm so sorry, Sonic," she helped him into a sitting position.

"Princess," Bernie sounded stern. "I do respect you. However, if you think we'll let you-"

"Don't worry," Sally reassured quickly. "We're not kicking him out for good. It's just to keep everyone satisfied for a while. I know somewhere safe we can keep him, and when the time is right, we'll see if we can smuggle him back in."

Nobody looked overly pleased, but Sonic's condition was bad, that was undeniable. Covered in scrapes, a few cracks in his eyes, one ear dangling, held onto his head by only a few cords. If he stayed, the risk was high, especially since he still wasn't too confident moving on his own.

"We'll sort this out Sonic, I promise," Sally sighed. 

Sonic beeped in confirmation. Yes, he would go.


	3. Quiet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic has some chill-out time

"Hello, Mr. Sonic! Mr. Tails is coming too, but I came early!"

The doors to Freedom HQ burst open, with none other than Cream the rabbit and her friend Cheese coming inside. Sonic beeped from where he was sat, glad to have some company. He hadn't seen anyone since Rotor fixed him up a little last night, and had been starting to get bored and lonely.

Cream came and sat next to the robian, placing her rucksack by her feet. She then pulled out a notepad and pencil case, which she handed to Sonic.  
Sonic tilted his head unsure of what the items he'd just been given were for.

"So we can talk to each other!" Cream explained brightly. Sonic pulled out a pen, and experimented with his grip on it for a few moments. His hands felt a bit big for the pen, but he got there eventually.

**'Good idea.'** he wrote, before holding the paper up to Cream. 

"So what have you been doing Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked.

Sonic scribbled for a few seconds before showing her his answer.  
**'I've been practicing walking so I can explore this place. I can get a good few steps before stumbling now = )'**  
He doodled a smiley face on the paper to emphasise that he was satisfied with his progress.

"So...would you be ok to go outside now?" Cream asked.

**'Probably. Why?'**

"There's something I want to do with you!"

She pulled the robot to his feet, taking his hand and leading him outside. It was a very pleasant and pretty morning, the sky a nice blue, with a few small clouds drifting by. Cream led the robian to a small clearing, filled with a sea of multicoloured flowers. 

"Ok, we're here!" Cream let go of Sonic's hand. He toppled slightly, before balancing himself out. Proud of himself, he leaned forward to tap Cream's shoulder so she could see how well he was doing, only to fall into the endless ocean of flowers before him. 

The rabbit giggled a little, and sat down cross-legged in the flowers next to the robot. Sonic pulled himself up so he could sit next to her, and observe what she was doing.

She had picked up a bunch of flowers in her hand, and was weaving them together in a tiny circle?  
Sonic pointed at whatever it was that she was making, and beeped in curiosity.

"This is a flower crown, Mr. Sonic! I like making them for my friends to wear!" She gently placed the tiny ring of pastel coloured flowers on Cheese's head. 

Sonic got the notepad out. **'Can I have one?'**

Cream smiled. "Of course! You're my friend!" 

**'Ok. What should I do?'**

"Just leave it to me!" Cream replied, already at work on a crown for Sonic. 

Sonic sat patiently in the petal filled clearing. It was so peaceful here, a lot more enjoyable than the carnage that had occurred back at the city yesterday. He felt so at ease, so untroubled by the many worries that usually plagued his mind. He wondered if he used to do this a lot, relaxing in the woods. 

"Ok, don't look!" Cream instructed.  
Sonic pressed his hands over his eyes.  
Cream got up from where she was sitting, and placed the flower crown on top of his head, then pulled a small mirror out of her bag.

"You can look now!"  
Sonic peered into the mirror, seeing that a crown of flowers now rested on his head. Cream had mainly picked shades of yellow, orange and pink. It looked very pretty, Sonic thought. 

"Do you like it?" Cream asked. Sonic nodded. He did. 

Cream picked more flowers, and began threading them together. "I hope you didn't get too lonely last night, on your own. I wanted to come see you, but mother said it was past my bedtime." Cream looked apologetic.

Sonic wrote a response. The pen felt quite awkward to use, and the end result looked a bit shaky, but it worked.  
**'I was ok. I mostly spent the time exploring FF HQ. I also watched the sun rise. Your flower crown reminds me of those colours!'**

"Really? That sounds so nice!" Cream rubbed her eyes. "I didn't sleep very well. There were a lot of noisy people outside, even though they should've been asleep. Mother went out and yelled at them at one point, which was scary. I don't think she knew I was still awake thoughhhhh," the last word trailed off into a yawn.

Cream's eyelids drooped downwards a little. Now that Sonic was looking closer, she did look very tired. There were definitely shadows under her eyes, and her ears were drooping a little. 

**'You look really tired.'**

"No...no, I'm ok…" Cream yawned. 

**'You're falling asleep.'**

Cheese nuzzled Cream, and said something in Chao that Sonic didn't understand. 

"But I don't want to leave Mr. Sonic alone again…"

**'I'll be ok. Besides you said Tails is coming later, right?'**

"Yeah, he is-"

All of a sudden, Sonic stood up, and scooped Cream up as if she were weightless. He took her back to FF HQ, noticing that she was growing more and more sleepy in his arms. The poor kid really didn't sleep last night, did she?

Sonic gently set her down in the bunks at FF HQ. By now she was fully asleep, peacefully snoozing. Careful not to damage it, Sonic removed his flower crown and gently placed it on Cream. Cheese fluttered down, and curled up next to Cream. 

Sonic left them alone, and stumbled into the common room. Though walking was easier now, he was still unsteady. Maybe if the floor wasn't so hard, it wouldn't be so much of a problem. The robian raised a digital eyebrow. He suddenly had an idea.

________________________________

"Sonic? Cream? Where are you!?" Tails called out playfully, entering Freedom HQ.  
The fox was met with complete silence. 

Strange. 

Though, now that Tails thought of it, they were probably hanging out downstairs, weren't they? The fox made his way down there. Sonic wasn't there, but there was a rather large stack of pillows and mattresses piled up in the middle of the room. This was getting weirder and weirder. 

Tails crept into the areas that were usually slept in, finding most of the doors open, with beds missing their pillows and mattresses inside. What on earth were Sonic and Cream up to? Just then, the final door at the end of the corridor opened up, and out plodded Sonic, carrying even more mattresses and pillows. 

"Hey Sonic," Tails waved. "What're you doing there?" Tails asked, not expecting a direct answer but curious nonetheless. Sonic led him back into the common room, placed the stack of soft items with the others, then pointed to a messy doodle in the notepad.

"A...fort?" Tails studied the drawing carefully, trying to figure out what it was. "Wait...you're not making a pillow fort, are you!?" Tails' ears shot up in glee.

Sonic shot his brother a big thumbs up of confirmation. 

"Can I help!?" Tails gasped, very excited now. 

Sonic nodded.

"Awesome! I'll help you make the best pillow fort possible!" Tails smiled, grappling a mattress. "So, if we start with this one…"

___________________________

Cream sat up on the bed, yawning as she did. Did Sonic tuck her into bed? How long had she been asleep? She felt something nestled on her forehead. Reaching upwards, Cream felt a flower crown resting up there. 

The rabbit rubbed the sleep from her eyes, wondering where Sonic was. She hopped out of bed, called to Cheese, and made her way back to the common room. As she pushed the door open, she was greeted by a scene she wasn't expecting.

A massive pillow fort stood before her, and from inside she could hear the noise of beeping, and what sounded like the laughing of her friend Tails. Cream peered into a hole in the front of the hole, and sure enough, the brothers were inside. 

"Can I come in, Tails?"

The fox stuck his tongue out playfully, "No way! Can't you read the sign?" Cream looked around and spotted a torn out notebook page reading 'Sonic and Tails only!'

"What!? That's so mean!" Cream protested, though she was only half serious. Tails was asking for trouble and she knew it.

"And what're you going to do about it?" Tails teased. He was asking for a pillow fight now. Practically begging for one. 

Cream grabbed a random cushion from beside her, and hit Tails in the face. Tails grinned as he recoiled, and grabbed a pillow from the wall of the fort, whacking Cream with it. Sonic watched the fight unfold in a curious silence, until Tails tossed him a pillow.

"Come and help!" he called. 

Help? As in fight Cream? ...The pillow in his hands was quite soft...and Cream and Tails did seem to be enjoying themselves… Sonic whacked Cream with the pillow, and she whacked back with hers, unexpectedly hard for a six year old.  
Sonic nearly lost his already wobbly balance, stumbling slightly.

A full scale pillow fight broke out between the three, sounds of laughter filling Freedom HQ. Soon more and more feathers fluttered and flew about the room as the sides upped their games.

\--------------------

Jules and Chuck were not far from the door to the Freedom Fighters HQ, sent there after Jules and Bernette realized that it had been a while after Tails had gone to check on his now robotic brother and not checked in. Chuck had joined his brother, mainly wanting to finish up the repairs that Rotor had started. 

Just as the upper level door to the HQ was about to come into view they noticed a concerned Vanilla was at the door, hand on her chin looking at said door. 

“I see we’re not the only ones who haven’t checked in with their parents,” Chuck called out, earning a slight jump from Vanilla as she turned to the brothers. 

“Ah, Cream had insisted in checking in on Sonic earlier and said she’d be back in a few hours but well.” She gestured to the door. “I’ve come and have been knocking on the door for a bit but no response”

“They’re probably in the lower level or, with Tails now joining those two, distracted enough with a game to not hear the door.” Jules said with a slight chuckle as the two got to the door. Chuck had proceeded ahead in opening the door.

They all looked as the door creaked open, into an empty hallway, the machines down the hall making the only noise they could hear. 

“Lower level it is.” Chuck spoke to break the short silence as he headed in with Jules and Vanilla not far behind him. Passing the machines and starting down the stairs, their first sign of something amiss appeared as they were almost at the end.

A few feathers floated in front of Charles before passing over his nose, earning a loud sneeze from the older hedgehog.

“What was that for?” Vanilla questioned after letting her heart calm down. 

“There was a feather, and more on the way it looks,” Jules answered for his recovering brother, pointing down the stairs.

Charles rubbed his poor nose as he answered, “Yes, lots more.” He glared at the light dusting of feathers at the entrance. One by one they all were at the bottom of the stairs and looked into the room.

It was a warzone.

Made of feathers and blankets. The majority of the floor was covered in feathers, the rest covered in what remained of what would have been a blanket fort, a ‘Sonic and Tails Only’ sign laid on top of a bundle of wiggling blankets, frustrated beeps coming from it. A pile of half destroyed pillows had a few yellow and white additions to it with a very proud Chao wearing a bow tie on top of it.

Cream, back turned to the adults, stood there in a triumphant pose, holding a half filled pillow in one hand.

“My word!” Vanilla exclaimed.

"Oh! Hello, Mother," Cream sounded slightly surprised. "We just had a pillow fight. And I won!"

"I can see that…" Vanilla replied, observing the mess on the floor.

"Well, looks like you kids had fun in here then," Jules remarked, observing the mess before him.

"I don't know about fun…" someone groaned. The unmistakable ears and head of Tails popped up from the pile of pillows. "Did you have to hit me that hard, Cream?"

"Don't be a sore loser Tails," Cream stuck her tongue out at him. "It isn't very polite."

There was a loud clanging noise, as Sonic finally managed to free himself from his blanketed prison, and went rolling across the floor, landing in a heap in the corner. He staggered to his feet, using the wall to help him up, and then waved to the adults who had arrived.

"Ah, Sonic, you're just in time to help clean up," Chuck greeted his nephew.  
Sonic waved his hands in protest.

"Don't worry! I'll help you too!" Cream comforted.

"No, you won't," Vanilla sighed. "Don't think that I don't know that you didn't get a single drop of sleep last night."

"It's ok, Mother. I'm not tireeeeed…" Cream trailed off into a yawn yet again. Apparently winning pillow fights was quite draining.

Cream reluctantly agreed to go home and take a nap with Vanilla, and Tails was told he was needed back in New Mobotropolis, which left only Sonic, Jules and Chuck. Chuck decided that he would go and get the area upstairs ready to finish the repairs on Sonic, leaving the robian to do most of the clean up.

Sonic got to work, first picking up the pillows, mattresses and blankets and putting them to the side, then starting on the scattered feathers.

"Are you alright on your own here, Sonic?" Jules asked.

Sonic nodded for confirmation, not turning away from the cleaning.

"Everyone's doing everything they can to get you back into the city,” Jules added.

Sonic stopped gathering feathers for a moment before making a hard huff before making a more frustrated effort in gathering and stuffing the feathers back into their cases.

“On the plus side, the one who kicked you out, The Skunk, your friends arrested him not long afterwards.” Sonic perked up at hearing this. The guy who led the mob was arrested? 

"About time too, I think," Jules continued. "You can't just lead an entire mob against a boy who's done nothing wrong. Not to mention certain other things he's done." 

Sonic folded some blankets, wondering what 'other things' the skunk had done. Maybe they were linked to how inexplicably bitter he felt towards him.

Now that Sonic had finished sorting the remains of the fallen pillow fort into neat piles, he got to work on putting them back in their proper rooms. As he put the first ones back, he realised that Jules was helping him put some things away.

"Thought you might want some help."

Sonic gave a thumbs-up. He was grateful for the help.

"Feeling quiet today?"

_"Oh!"_ Sonic beeped. _"Sorry. I've gotten so used to nobody being able to hear me that it's become a bit of a habit."_

"Hmmm...we'll have to see what we can do about you not being able to talk to other people. I'm sure we can find a way." Jules assured.

_"Well, I've been using a notepad to write what I want to say today."_ Sonic explained. _"It's been working pretty well."_

"That's good to hear."

The two continued to put the now neatly folded blankets and perfectly stacked pillows back into the proper rooms. With them both on the job, it was done before they knew it. 

"Good job, you'd never even know that a pillow fight had happened here," Jules surveyed the now cleaned room. "Now, I think your uncle wanted to see you." Sonic nodded, and made his way up the stairs. Maybe it was just Jules' imagination, but it seemed like Sonic was stalling a little, walking a little slow.

"Something wrong?"

_"....He's not going to open me up again, is he?"_ Sonic sounded a little uneasy.

"He might. Why?" 

_"I'm not really a fan of that. Yesterday wasn't very fun."_ Sonic tried a smile but he couldn't quite hide that he sounded slightly bothered. 

"You've got organs in there, right?" Jules had heard about it, but not been there to witness the discovery when it happened.

_"Yeah. They've been fused to all the machinery and stuff. We...don't exactly know what'll happen if they get damaged. Or if I can survive without them."_

Jules remained quiet for a brief moment. "Well, if it's any comfort to you, from what I saw yesterday, the damage didn't seem bad enough for your uncle to need to open you up. I think you'll be fine for now."

The two reached Freedom HQ's lab, and Sonic sat before Chuck, waiting patiently as he was inspected. Rotor had done a good job starting on the repairs, and Sonic was certainly looking better than yesterday. Most of the scrapes had been sorted, and though his ear still wasn't standing up straight, it was no longer in any immediate danger of falling off.

"This shouldn't take long," Chuck concluded. Sonic nodded, and sat still, as the repairs were started. He made a mental note to try and not make a habit out of getting fixed a lot. Once he got better at walking and moving, he hoped it wouldn't be as much of an issue. He twitched slightly as he felt his ear being reattached properly. 

"And with that, you should be good to go," Chuck confirmed. Sonic beeped out a 'thank you'. 

Outside, the sky was slowly taking on a slightly darker hue. The afternoon had slipped away quicker than Sonic had realised, very different from the long night he'd spent alone, quietly testing his new body. He said goodbye to his father and uncle, and then he was alone again.

Time to be productive. He had to learn to walk better. He looked around the lab. It was quite a large room. Ok. New objective.

He was going to try and walk around the whole perimeter of the room, without using anything to support himself.

____________________________

The last 24 hours had slowly been turning into some of the worst moments of Sally's life. Sonic had been turned into a robot and exiled, everyone was still wary of Nicole, Naugus had taken over as king, and most of the citizens of the city were restless and noisy for one reason or another. She could hear all them outside, some celebrating, others protesting, all fighting. She tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. 

Wait…unable to sleep…

Sally hauled herself out of bed, and pulled on her usual boots and vest. Freedom HQ would surely be quiet, and it wouldn't hurt to check up on Sonic. Careful not to wake anyone else, and not alert anyone she was leaving Sally slipped out into the cool night air. She moved quickly through the edges of New Mobotropolis, trying to avoid the centre, where the chaos was at its worst. Once outside the city, Sally slowed her pace to a much more casual stroll. The sky was clear, twinkling thousands of tiny bright lights. The chipmunk grinned, remembering nights spent stargazing with Nicole. Nicole's reactions to seeing pretty stars and new constellations were absolutely precious. She kind of regretted not inviting the lynx. Maybe next time. 

…If there was a next time.

Sally sighed. She really hoped Sonic wouldn't be stuck in exile very long, but their efforts today had been frustratingly futile. She dreaded having to inform Sonic about that, that no matter how hard they were trying, not much progress had been made. Sally made her way into Freedom HQ, and was surprised to see the doors to the lab open. Getting closer, she heard a familiar beeping, coming from the back of the room. Sonic was on the floor, struggling back up to his feet. Four or five textbooks were scattered on the floor around him. 

"Need a hand?" Sally offered hers to Sonic, and the robian used it to pull himself up, notably more stable doing so than yesterday. 

Sonic wandered over to a table in the lab, and grabbed a notepad.

**'What're you doing here? Isn't it really late?'**

"I needed to get away from the city," Sally answered truthfully, "It's just as bad tonight as it was yesterday."

**'Still noisy?'**

"Yes. People are arguing, yelling, fighting. Naugus swayed the majority on being king but now there's arguments about what happens to the Freedom Fighters, and what they're going to do about me and my family and...your exile…"

Sonic beeped quietly. Sally couldn't understand, but she got the impression he was awaiting bad news.

"We're working on it. There are people on your side. We're going to get you home." She sounded firm, determined. 

**'What about you though? How're you doing?'**

"Me...I'm ok…" Sally sighed. "I've mostly been trying to help my family. Elias is taking it...hard...I think him and Meg brought up the idea of moving away. Mother is stressed, and...my father...isn't well…"

**'You don't sound ok'**

"It's just a lot to deal with is all. I've coped with much worse, I'll be ok."

Sonic said no more. It seemed to him like Sally didn't want to be talking about this right now. 

**'So, are you going to spend the night here?'**

"Yes, probably. I can stay out of your way, if you want?" Sally added the last part, unsure of what the robian wanted. She still wasn't entirely sure what he'd been doing before she came in, but if she had to guess she'd say he'd been practicing walking. 

**'No, stay, please. I want to talk to you about something'**

"Oh, sure. What is it?" Sally asked.

**'Can you tell me more about myself please'**

"Of course!" Sally accepted his request, remembering the talk yesterday of trying to retrieve the robian's lost memories. “What would you like to know first?”

The robian tapped the pen of his metal chin for a moment before he lit up and wrote down his first question, **‘What was I like before?’**

“Personality wise?” The Robian nodded, “Well, you were brave, take charge, very stubborn.” She looked to the books on the floor, “Glad to see the stubborn part hasn’t changed.”

**'I have to be if I want to learn to walk properly'**

"I know! I'm just teasing you a little. What else would you like to know?" Sally asked.

**'How did I spend my time? What did I do?'**

"Well, you spent a lot of your time helping me and the other Freedom Fighters take on Eggman. And you were very good at it too. And when you weren't doing that you'd like to pull practical jokes, or play guitar," Sally explained. 

Sonic was listening intently, taking in every word Sally said, which was a first. He looked to be deep in focus, thinking hard. Eventually, he did write something else.

**'Who's Eggman?'**

"Eggman is a…" Sally wondered how to explain it without over complicating things. "...an evil scientist, who took over most of the world using tons of robots."

**'Oh. Ok.'**

Sonic's reply was brief. Sally wondered if the robian was remembering unpleasant things.

**'So we...the Freedom Fighters...we were a team?**

"Yeah! When Eggman captured and enslaved nearly everyone, we were practically the only ones left. So we all decided to get together and kick his butt. Or, that's the simple version anyway. We're more than just a team though. I...actually consider them more like family."

**'Now I feel bad for not remembering'**

"Don't. It's not your fault you lost your memory, is it? I'm just glad you're here at all. A lot of people who get roboticized by Eggman aren't so lucky…" Sally's mind wandered off for a brief moment, thinking back to the first time Sonic had been roboticized. She quickly shook the memory away, not needing to think about that right now.

**'So what about us? What was my relationship with you like?'**

"We were...on good terms. We've argued in the past, but we got through it, and now you and I get along again."

Sonic wondered what they'd argued about, but didn't want to ask. Now didn't seem like a good time to bring up things that were apparently sorted and behind them.

**'Do you want to go sit somewhere? I'm kind of aware we've just been in the lab this whole time'**

"Oh! I actually had an idea about that," Sally now sounded excited. "Come on, follow me!"

She led the robian outside, and into the clearing outside Freedom HQ, then lay down in the grass, head tilted towards the sky. Sensing some confusion from Sonic, Sally pointed above her. Sonic's eyes followed her hand, until he was looking at the sky above him. He let out about as close as he could get to an astonished gasp.

A great sea of dark indigo stretched out above him, speckled with millions of bright white dots, each one glowing ever so slightly. He joined Sally, lying in the grass

"Pretty, right?" Sally asked, smiling. Sonic nodded. It was very pretty.

Sally turned her head back to the sky. "You get a better view of them out here, compared to the city."

Sonic kept looking up at the glimmering abyss, as Sally continued, "You know, it's funny. I never used to really care for this stuff too much. Never paid much attention to the sky. But then...someone pointed out all the beauty there is to be seen and I...I grew to appreciate it…"

Sonic listened to Sally reminisce, whilst seeing if he could spot any cool constellations. After a long while of searching, Sonic realised that Sally wasn't talking anymore. He glanced over his shoulder, to see that she had fallen asleep. Taking one final glance at the sky, he gently picked her up, and took her inside.

And that's the story of how Sally woke up in Freedom HQ, sleeping in her clothes, with a loudly beeping robot right outside her door.


	4. Black hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some familiar faces decide to attack

"Urghhh...Sonic…?" Sally rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up, forcing her brain to be awake. Sonic stood over her, holding a piece of paper that read **'Nicole wants to see you.'**

"Wha- where is she..?" Sally groaned, her mind still somewhat lagging from having just woken up. Sonic simply pointed at the ceiling in answer to her question. Sally took a moment or two to catch on, "...Upstairs?" Her guess was met with a thumbs-up.

He started writing furiously on his notepad. Sally sat there for a few minutes before getting up and walking out the room with Sonic following her as he wrote. The two made their way upstairs, Sonic still scribbling furiously. As they made their way to the top, the robian ended up breaking his pencil, making him beep in frustration.

"Sally!" Nicole greeted her hastily. "I'm sorry to disturb your sleep, but something big has come up!"

“It’s fine Nicole,” Sally reassured, “I would rather be tired if there is trouble afoot. So what's the situation?”

"I've been detecting some very odd energy signals, Sally," Nicole explained. "I think something big is coming."

“How big exactly?”

"I'm not sure. It seems to be a big ship of some kind?" Nicole sounded slightly unsure.

"Eggman?" Sally speculated.

"No," Nicole dismissed the idea. "I don't believe it is. Seems like something else, from what I'm detecting. Something...ancient..."

"Ok," Sally began stretching, readying herself for whatever was coming. "I'll head over to New Mobotropolis, and see what the situation is. Tell Bunnie and Antoine to meet me there."

"...Ok, Sally." Nicole hesitated slightly before agreeing, her eyes flickering a little.

"Something wrong, Nicole?"

"No, I...I'll see you in New Mobotropolis in a second. Bunnie might not be available though..." Nicole's hologram form vanished, leaving Sonic and Sally alone in the lab.

"Well, I best get going then," Sally made for the door, but stopped when she felt a metal hand grip her shoulder. She whipped around to see that Sonic had written another note.

**'I want to help too.'**

"Sonic, I-" Sally couldn't find the words to tell him no. Him going would likely end in disaster with the state the city was in, she knew this, and even if he could walk ok, he was still a little clumsy. "We've got this. You can help soon, once you're more… adjusted to your new body."

She freed herself from his grip, leaving him to stand alone. Sonic's fists curled up slightly. This wasn't fair. He could help them, he just...he just knew he could. Sally had told him that that'd kind of been his thing, before the whole 'getting roboticized incident', so why shouldn't he go? The longer he thought about it, the longer he made up his mind.

Screw what Sally said, he was going.

The robian set off at a brisk pace, back towards the city. Maybe if he helped fight against whatever this thing was, he'd earn back some trust and respect. Looking to the sky he noticed shapes on the horizon. They looked like...ships? Lots of ships.  
He picked the pace up even more.

He rushed into the city, ignoring the various comments from confused and angry citizens. He wandered round, looking for someone he recognised a friend.

"Sonic!?" Oh! He knew who that was! Coming from behind a familiar looking blue plane, came the voice of Tails. "Are you here to help?" Sonic replied with a thumbs-up. "Cool! Nicole just repaired the tornado, so hop on if you're coming."

Sonic looked around to see if he could see Nicole, who had apparently just been doing repairs, but she was nowhere to be found. Perhaps she was just busy doing something else.

"Oh, Sonic!" Another voice he knew! This time he recognised it as the pink hedgehog girl, who he now knew was named Amy. "Even when Sally said you weren't coming, I just knew you'd show up! And look at that, I was right! Ready to kick some Battle Kukku butt?"

Amy hopped onto one wing of the plane, and Sonic followed her lead, hopping onto the wing on the other side. He didn't know exactly who these 'Battle Kukku's were, but they didn't seem like good news. 

"Going up!" Tails called out, as the plane soared into action. Sonic wobbled slightly, before regaining his balance. He found himself settling into the position quite naturally. Maybe he'd done this before. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed Rotor coming up alongside them. He gave the walrus a small wave.

Turning back around, he identified three coloured blurs were flying towards them.

"Well well, I didn't know snails could fly!"

He recognised that voice! No memories came to mind, but there was a feeling of competitiveness, a feeling of rivalry. A hoverboard came to a halt in front of him, and two sharp, blue eyes scanned him curiously. Sonic got a strange feeling he was being judged.

"Didn't know tin cans could fly either," the green bird snarked, but there was an edge of unease to his voice, as though he wasn't quite sure who he was talking to. Sonic wondered if the bird recognised him.

“What do you want Jet?” Tails yelled out. Jet...so that was the bird's name. It seemed familiar. 

"A few seconds ago, nothing in particular. But now…" Jet's attention was fixed on Sonic. "...You've got me curious. Who's this new friend of yours?"

Sonic didn't take his eyes off Jet. He couldn't tell if the bird actually didn't recognise him, or if this was some form of teasing. Gradient eyes locked with blue ones.

"Can't believe you guys would stoop so low that you'd start working with an Eggman robot! Aren't you guys supposed to be fighting him? You have to be doing a pretty poor job if you have to use his own tech against him!"

Sonic was beginning to get the urge to punch this green guy off his board. His voice was beginning to irritate him.

"Well, the jokes on you! That's not an Eggman robot," Amy replied confidently.

To the trio's surprise, upon hearing this, Jet began to laugh. "Is that so? Well in that case, this can only mean one thing! Sonic the hedgehog, the supposed 'fastest thing alive' has been roboticized!" Sonic felt his anger rising. Just who was this guy, and what was his deal? Whoever he was, he was sure being a real nuisance right now.

"And what's even better," Jet continued talking. This guy really didn't know when to stop, did he? "Is that I bet you can't even be called the fastest thing alive anymore, can you?"

"Alright that's enough out of you!" Amy whacked the hawk with her hammer, sending him and his board plummeting downwards. "Is it just me, or was he being even more horrible than usual just then?" Sonic shrugged and Tails didn't answer. The fox kept glancing downwards at the city. "Something wrong, Tails?" Amy asked.

"They've broken through the city's shields...this can't be good…" Tails dragged his eyes back to the skies, making sure he wasn't about to knock into anything. Amy hopped off the plane, hit a bird who was dangerously close to shooting them, and hopped back on.

"Well I think it's about to get worse, Tails!"

"What does that mean!?"

Amy pointed below them. "Look who else decided to show up."

"Fear not, my subjects, your king shall save you once again!" The trio all collectively groaned, seeing Naugus below them. This might not end well. Sonic and Amy squinted up at the wizard aboard the ship. A thin line of green crystals seemed to have appeared on the deck.

Just then, a shot nearly hit Sonic's head. The robian whipped around and beeped in alarm, caught off guard by the close call.

"Focus!" Tails shouted over the noise, noticing his distracted teammates. "We can deal with Naugus later, he's the least of our problems right now! What we need to focus on is the fact that the Battle Kukkus are here, and they've brought the Babylon Rogues with them!"

Amy continued hitting enemies and Sonic began feeling useless. He was barely doing anything to help. The robian's eyes scanned the opposition. Five enemy birds in small ships, all in a line. Some kind of instinct, some kind of voice deeply ingrained in the back of his scrambled mind were telling him what to do. He was being told to jump at them.

He dared to glance down below them. The floor was dizzyingly far below him, and yet he felt completely devoid of anxiety. He didn't fear the fall. The robian jumped at the enemies, and felt himself curl up on reflex, and flung himself from enemy to enemy, until there were none left near him to hit. Sonic somersaulted backwards, and landed on the wing of the moving plane. The landing was nearly perfect, besides from a few wobbles.

"Felt like doing a homing attack, I see," Tails asked. Sonic shrugged and grinned awkwardly. He guessed so? He had no idea that was a thing he could do, but hey, he wasn't complaining.

"Ok, we've got a clear path now," Tails muttered to himself, before calling out to Rotor. "Now's our chance! If we land on the flight deck, we can-"

Tails was cut off, as another green bird, definitely not the same one from earlier, yanked him out of the pilot's seat. "Sorry Tails! Dad wants to dig up something under your town! Guess you guys picked the wrong piece of real estate!"

Sonic whipped around wildly, trying to figure out who Tails' captor was. A green bird but not jet this time. No, this guy was too small and wearing the wrong outfit to be Jet. Sonic thought he heard Tails gasp 'speedy' as he was lifted up; 'Speedy', was that the bird's name? He didn't have time to think about that right now though, a change in surroundings dragging him back into the real world. 

Amy shrieked as the plane, now without it's pilot, spiraled out of control, and Sonic beeped frantically, immediately losing his balance, only managing to stay on the Tornado by gripping onto the edge of the wing.  
Amy edged along the wing of the plane. If she fell, it could very well mean death, but then again, if the tornado crashed she probably wouldn't end up much better. She jumped into the pilot's seat, and fought against her streaming eyes to see the controls.

Sonic got as close as he could get to yelling. Amy forced her eyes open, and at the last minute, swooped the plane into a semi-decent position.

"I'm warning you now, Sonic," Amy yelled. "This is going to be a pretty rough landing!" Sonic nodded, though he knew she couldn't see it, and braced himself for impact. The world suddenly turned into a rapidly spinning blur of colours. Sonic's vision eventually snapped back into focus, and he found himself lying on his back, a broken plane wing above him.

Not waiting for a second, Sonic scrambled to his feet, and rushed to check on Amy, who he spotted lying in the grass, a very short distance from the plane. She seemed dizzy, and had some bumps and bruises, but otherwise appeared unharmed. She gripped Sonic's arm, and pulled herself up off the ground.

"You alright?"

Sonic nodded.

"That's good. Looks like we landed pretty far out, we need to….to…" Amy trailed off in shock, eyes fixated on the horizon. Sonic followed her gaze, and saw a vibrant green light, encompassing a large part of the city, tearing up the ground and destroying huge parts of their home. Amy squinted and Sonic covered his eyes as the light grew harsher and more intense. Eventually, after what felt like a lifetime, Sonic risked pulling his hands away from his eyes, and thankfully, the light had vanished. Observing the damage, the robian spotted...wait...wasn't that...that green jerk on the hoverboard from earlier? Flying into the crater the blast had left!?

Sonic rapidly tapped Amy's shoulder and pointed at the familiar figure on a hoverboard in the distance. "Jet?" Amy growled. "What's he up to now?" Sonic shrugged, cautious with his response because of how mad Amy looked. The girl looked absolutely furious, and some remnants of Sonic's deeply buried memories were informing him that he did not want to mess with Amy when she was mad.  
"Only one way to find out I suppose."

And with that remark, Amy ran off, towards the crater that had once been part of a city. Sonic hesitated for a second. Should he go after her? Help her? He really felt like he should. Well, he had nothing to lose, he guessed. The robian sped off after Amy, picking up more and more speed as he ran after her. After a short period of time, Sonic caught up with Amy, just as she was jumping into the crater. He fell alongside her, then landed at the bottom of the crater with a loud clang, causing Amy to notice him. "You came!" She gasped as Sonic awkwardly stumbled towards her.

"Oh great, just what we needed!"

"Boss, we've got company!"

Two voices rang through the deep pit, one belonging to a purple swallow, the other to a grey albatross. Sonic's feelings towards them were similar to what he felt about Jet, but a bit less strong.

"Oh really?" Jet turned around from where he was standing to see the angered robian and fuming hedgehog who had just dropped into the crater. "This isn't any of your business, you know."

"None of our business!?" Amy cried in outrage, whipping out her hammer. "You've just blown a giant hole in our city! How is it none of our business!?"

"Because neither of you have any idea what lies down here, do you?" Jet paused for dramatic effect. "Babylon garden."

"Oh, and because there's some dumb garden down here, that justifies you destroying part of our home!?"

"Kind of, yeah!"

Ok, that was the last straw. Sonic and Amy both got ready to leap at and attack Jet.  
"Tell me," Amy shouted. "What do you get out of being an obnoxious jerk!?"

"Your attention," Jet smirked. All of a sudden, a blue light swallowed the two hedgehogs, leaving them unable to move.

"No!" Amy gritted her teeth. "What did you do!?"

"Whilst you were busy losing your temper, Wave snuck up behind you and used her gravity thingy to stop you. Genuine ancient Babylon technology you know?" Jet smirked. "Come on rogues! To Babylon Garden!"

And then the birds left, leaving Sonic and Amy paralysed. "Ohhhh when I get out of here, those birds won't know what hit-," Amy stopped. It felt like the ground was trembling, with the tremors getting stronger by the second. Small rocks, pieces of rubble from their wrecked city, and sheets of dust fell from the top of the crater.  
Amy's eyes widened with a sudden realisation. "S-Sonic, if these tremors get too bad, we're going to be crushed down here!"

Sonic beeped in distress, though he knew Amy couldn't hear him. He might be able to survive the impact of some rocks, but he wasn't too sure about being buried alive.

Just in time, the blue light bubbles vanished, allowing the pair to move. "We've got to get to whatever that garden thing is before the rogues do something stupid!" Amy began running in the direction the birds had gone, but stumbled due to the tremors, landing on her hands and knees.

Just as soon as they suddenly started, the tremors stopped. Amy pulled herself up and continued running. "Come on, Sonic!"

The two hedgehogs burst in on the scene of the birds confronting some tall, strangely ancient looking robot, talking about its 'previous navigational routine'.

"What the heck is this place!?" Amy looked around Babylon Garden, absolutely bewildered. "And why'd Nicole build our city right on top of it!?"

"The program Nicole did not build the nanite city." Amy nearly jumped out of her boots in shock, not expecting the ancient looking robot to talk to her. "She had never probed to this depth, and thus never detected my presence," the robot continued. “This city was constructed by the program A.D.A.M. He detected my systems and intended to tap into them to expedite the transport of the mystic gems across the vast reaches of space.”

“I don’t understand! How could you have had anything to do with what A.D.A.M was doing?” Amy questioned.

“I am equipped with a worm-hole generator that creates shortcuts across space-time. However, my systems could not be accessed without the ignition matrix that I have since gained, so A.D.A.M sought to use other methods.”

“Wait a second!” The purple swallow pushed Amy to the side to speak with the robot. “This is a spaceship then?”

“Affirmative.”

“So, who removed your key, your ‘ignition matrix’, and why?” The bird girl demanded more answers from the robot, seemingly engrossed in everything it had to say.

“It was removed by the Babylonians due to an irreparable malfunction in the wormhole generator that would cause the creation of a black hole if used. Destruction of the planet would result. They refused that responsibility, and settled on this world. The ship and matrix were hidden to prevent this occurrence in the future.”

“Astounding!” Wave muttered to herself. “If these Babylonians settled on Mobius, then that means…”

“You guys descended from the aliens that landed heeee- HEY!”  
Amy struggled and protested as she and Sonic were picked up and restrained by Storm. The two hedgehogs kicked and fought furiously to get free.  
“Boss…” Storm whined to Jet. “This plan was a bad idea. These two are pointy, and hard to hold!”

“Just keep them out of the way whilst we-”

“With the ignition matrix restored, I will proceed to orbit for optimal gravitational balance, and initiate the wormhole jump. I suggest the evacuation of the planet, as it will be destroyed.”

The entirety of Babylon Garden began to shudder, and a loud humming noise sounded from somewhere within its core.  
“Wave....” for the first time, a tiny drop of fear had leaked into Jet’s voice. “Please tell me that’s just another tremor!”

“No…” Wave observed the tech in front of her. “The garden is rising....”

Confronted with just how dangerous the situation was, Sonic leaned forwards, then violently jerked his head backwards, his sharp, metallic spines colliding with Storm’s chest with an incredible force. The albatross cried out in pain, and released the hedgehogs.

“Aww, thanks Sonic! My hero!” Amy giggled, before brandishing her giant hammer, and turning to the machinery before her. “Now, about the doomsday device that these idiots managed to wake up…”  
The hedgehog raised her weapon, ready to strike the robot with the full force of it.

“No!” Jet finally recovered from the tonal whiplash he’d just received from seeing Amy’s sweetness turn to pure rage before his eyes, and lept forwards, tackling her, and sending her hammer flying across the floor. “I need to know more about Babylon!”

“Oh, and that’s more important than the entire planet!?” Amy shoved the hawk off of her and retrieved her hammer.

“I got this!” Jet objected, before addressing the robot. “Auto-pilot! I...I am a descendant of Babylon! I order you to stop!”

“Order denied. You lack sufficient security clearance. I must return to the homeworld for repairs.”

“Homeworld!? What homeworld? Wave! Could you reprogram this thing!? Maybe stop it from destroying the planet!?” Jet was trying not to let his stress show, but it wasn’t working.

“Perhaps, if I had enough time, but these readings show that we only have minutes before the wormhole jumps! If we don’t get that key out now, mobius is done for!” Wave pointed to the item in question.

“Allow me!” Amy reached for it, but at that very second, a green blur swept through the room, knocking everyone off their feet.

“No, allow me!”

Sonic’s pupils widened. He knew that voice! It was the same green bird from earlier, the one who had pulled Tails out of the tornado.

“Well, Jet..It looks like that whole ‘great destiny’ you and my dad have been chasing is about to blow up in all our faces. You're both idiots, tampering with ancient alien tech without knowing what it is. Even if you cut ties with the Battle Kukkus years ago, you're still no smarter than they are.” The smaller of the two green birds stood over the taller one, who was currently knocked to the floor, his tone mocking. “Maybe I should leave the key where it is, and let you be responsible for the doom of an entire world. How’d that be for a ‘great destiny’? Would you like that? All your endless chasing wasted.”

Amy nudged Sonic, and quietly muttered something along the lines of, “Quickly, whilst he’s monologuing!”

“Nah,” Speedy continued, “I’d rather savor your defeat. Dad is going to pluck you bald, force you all to be reformed and come to your senses, meanwhile I’ll be hailed as the savior of mobius. And all I have to do is pull out this…”

The bird looked around, but he couldn’t see what he was looking for.  
“...key?”

The room suddenly erupted into a red haze, and warning alarms began blaring. Four confused heads whipped around to see Sonic and Amy standing by what looked to be an emergency exit, Sonic holding the key that had been powering Babylon Garden, Amy holding her hammer.

“You’re really lucky we’re the good guys, you know!” Amy said, surprisingly playful sounding, given the situation. “Because if we weren’t, I’d personally make sure that none of you got out of this ship alive.” That dark, bitter tone suddenly took control of Amy’s voice again. Sonic dropped the key on the ground, and Amy smashed it into hundreds of tiny pieces.

“Now, I need to go and check on everyone I know and care about, so we’ll be leaving very soon,” Amy made to open the door before turning to face the birds one final time. “But if any of them aren’t ok, then I’ll prove that Sonic isn’t the only one good at tracking down and chasing!”

And with that the two hedgehogs jumped off of the ship and...into the open sky.  
“OH!” Amy screamed as they plummeted. “I didn’t realise the garden had risen this high already!” Some kind of feeling took over Sonic’s body. A feeling of knowing exactly what to do, even though he himself didn’t know what the thing he was trying to do was. He swooped forwards, grabbed Amy by the hands and then…

Their fall came to a halt. Sonic looked around, puzzled trying to see what had stopped them from going splat on the floor below them. “Wow!” Amy cried. “You could’ve told me you can hover!” Hover??? Was he the one who had stopped them?? He could see some kind of light coming from underneath his feet. Was that how he was hovering? “It’s kind of like what Shadow does, don’t you think?”

Sonic didn’t have the heart to tell her that he had no idea who Shadow was, and that he’d had no idea he could hover either, not that Amy would understand his comments anyway.

The hedgehog wondered how nobody had realised he could hover. He hadn’t really needed to do so at any point so far though, so he supposed it was just something he’d always been able to do, that had just been hidden from him. He set Amy down gently on the ground, before landing himself.

“You’re alive!” Tails rushed towards his friends, Rotor following behind him. “When the Tornado went down I was really worried that...you know…”

“We’re perfectly fine Tails!” Amy confirmed. “How about everyone else?”

“Miraculously, no one got hurt,” Tails sighed. “Sally and Elias managed to evacuate everyone on time. Naugus is acting really weird though.”

“What else is new?” Amy rolled her eyes. “Don’t know what we’re going to do about this massive whole though…”

“I directed the nanites from my suit to start repairs on the city, but without Nicole, it’ll be pretty slow.” Rotor explained. The last few words sounded heavy.

“Where’s Nicole?” Amy asked softly, as if scared to hear the answer.

“She uploaded herself to Freedom HQ after the people's hate just got too much for her,” Rotor looked down, avoiding seeing the others' pained expressions. “She might be stuck there for a while, considering the city are all still really worked up at her about the whole 'Iron Nicole' thing.”

Sonic rushed off in a blue blur the moment he heard that. The others reached out and called for him, but the robian's mind was already made up. He was going to see Nicole, he had to. Once outside of the city, he slowed his run to a more reasonable pace, now that the danger of being yelled at by angry idiots for violating his exile were not present.

And yet...despite the fact he had slowed slightly, there was this...feeling in his chest. An unpleasant, electrical sensation, that felt as though it was pulsing faster and faster, the more he ran. Sonic's limbs felt like they were grinding to a halt, no matter how much he pushed to keep them moving. He ran faster. Freedom HQ was in sight, and had to get there. He couldn't stop now, not when he was so close-

An unexpectedly strong bolt of electricity shot through every inch of his body. The robian's limbs locked up, and he found himself lying in the dirt, the doors to Freedom HQ mockingly close to him. His limbs tingled, still filled with that same electric feeling. Sonic mentally yelled at himself to get up, but his body wouldn't comply.

He wasn't sure how long he lay there, but he knew it must've been a while. The sky had begun to darken, and a thin drizzle had turned to an all out downpour. The feelings in his body didn't stop, if anything, they were getting worse. Was it just the rain, and dark sky, or was his vision actually losing colour? The green grass was starting to look more grey than anything, and the shapes of each individual blade were slowly fading out of existence, until eventually his vision had turned to a big, dark grey blur. His heart was still pounding away in his chest, the jolts of energy feeling more and more painful, until suddenly…

...He felt nothing at all.

_________________________________

The night air was cold, and the clouds looked like they were just waiting to start tipping it down again, but that wasn't going to stop Elias this evening. No, his task was much too important to be stopped by a mere storm.

He took a deep breath, and knocked on the door, silently hoping he had the right house.

“Hello? Director Who? It’s King...It’s Elias Acorn. I’d like to speak with you.”  
The door opened, just a crack, revealing a single eye staring intensely at Elias. “Director? I retired from the director of the secret service when Max put that idiot skunk in charge of things years ago,” the stranger’s tone was harsh. “What on Mobius do you want, boy?”

“Um, well…” Elias cleared his throat, ready to use the words he’d been practicing in his head. “My father spoke highly of you. He said that during his rule and through all the hard times you were always there to watch his back.”

“Hmphh...did he now? Seems he's lost more of his marbles and brains than I’d heard,” Elias recolied as what appeared to be a cane and arm emerged from the crack in the door, and were shaken at him. Who’s voice grew angrier. “I told him I didn’t trust Kodos, but he made him warlord! I told him to kick out Naugus but he booted Morgan instead! I told him not to trust that overlander, and he let Robotnik take it all over! I had to watch his back because he never listened to reason!"

The figure retreated, preparing to slam the door.

“The Prowers were right, the Acorns have lost the faith of the people. So you go on and run away and let Naugus have his crown. Maybe he can even do a better job than your father, wouldn't that be something? Good night.”

Elias shoved his elbow in the door, and forcibly kept it open. “You and I both know Naugus’ ambitions won’t end at the crown, he's got something planned and people are refusing to see it. I have to find a way to fight him without fighting the will of the people and you’re the only man who knows how to strike from the shadows like that. Please help me do what's right.”

The owl opened the door fully, now looking at Elias face to face, with both eyes for the first time. “You’re asking me to orchestrate treasonous acts against my king…” Harvey Who raised an eyebrow, as though checking Elias knew exactly what he was asking of the director.

“I’m you king,” Elias stated definitely, standing up to his full height. “Naugus is just keeping my crown warm.”

“Now that’s what I wanted to hear! I’m glad you don’t take after your father. You think outside the box. If we can get you back, you could be better than Naugus and your father combined.” For the first time, Harvey’s tone warmed up to Elias. “Now that I'm done testing you, will you trust me to put things in order?”

“Absolutely. It’s why I came to you. I may be King but there's no way that I can handle this on my own.”

“Good.” The owl knelt down to tend to the fire. Elias crouched and joined him, staring into the flames. “You and your family are going to continue their plans to move away. Then, tonight, we’ll make plans on how you can make your way back in secret. That was Naugus won't suspect a thing and the time in between all that should be enough for me to recruit a team for you.”

“Wait, slow down. Team?” Elias dragged his gaze away from the dancing flames to shoot the director a questioning look.

“Yes. If you’re going to fight Naugus, you’re going to need more than just yourself. You're going to need freedom fighters. Secret Freedom Fighters.”


	5. Crumbling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things begin falling apart

Sonic wasn't sure how much time had passed between when he had first passed out in the grass and him being taken inside Freedom HQ, presumably by Nicole. Had it been hours? Maybe even days? He wasn't sure. His concept of time had been completely thrown off, and he couldn't currently see any ways to check when it was now.

The robian pushed himself off of the table in the Freedom HQ lab he'd been set down on, thankful to have regained control of his body, and observed his surroundings. No sign of anyone else in here. But this wasn't the nicest place to be hanging around, he supposed, so he headed downstairs to look for Nicole. Or he tried to. First he had to detach some kind of...cable that had been stuck in his back?

He checked all the downstairs rooms, but with no luck. Was Nicole not here then? But if that was the case, how had he ended up inside? He very much doubted he'd somehow managed to wander inside all by himself.

_"Nicole? Nicole!?"_

Sonic wandered around, looking for his missing friend.

"I am here, Sonic."

The robian jumped, hearing her voice, but unable to see her. Behind him, was a big screen that showed text, displaying the words she just said.

"You're inside the computer…?"

"Yes."

_"Why?"_

"..."

Nicole didn't answer, and Sonic decided not to press her any further on this, if she didn't wish to talk about it.

 _"Did you bring me inside?"_ Sonic cut straight to his biggest question.

"Yes. I found you, deactivated, lying in the grass. Your eyes were blank, and you weren't moving or responding to anything. After hours of trying to figure out what had happened to you, I resorted to trying to give you an energy boost."

_"Do you know what happened to me?"_

"I'm not entirely sure, but I have a theory that your problems are the result of your mechanical and organic parts not syncing properly."

Sonic said nothing for a while processing that information. So, that was something he'd have to be aware of. He'd been lucky to deactivate where someone was able to find him, this time around. What if one day, he pushed himself in some remote location, and then stayed there, deactivated forever, essentially dead?

He didn't want to think about that anymore.

 _"Why did you upload yourself to Freedom HQ? They need you in the city!"_ Sonic changed the subject, reminded why he wanted to come back to Freedom HQ in the first place.

"I am not wanted in New Mobotropolis. The entire city was screaming to take me offline. They all wanted me gone, they all wanted me...dead...so to speak."

The two stayed silent for a second, Sonic looking very sad for Nicole, _“Do you want a hug?”_

"I…" There was a pause before the next line, as Nicole considered the offer. "I'd like that…"

The lynx slowly materialised in front of Sonic, her ears drooping and head lowered, before wrapping her arms around him, her grip surprisingly tight. Sonic hugged back, careful not to be too strong for fear of crushing someone again.

 _"You know, I'm starting to really hate a lot of those citizens in New Mobotropolis."_ Sonic confessed angrily. _"What did we ever do to them?"_

"They weren't always so...hostile," Nicole sighed. "Quite the opposite, actually. I don't know what's wrong with them…"

Sonic and Nicole continued to hug, and Sonic could've sworn he heard Nicole sobbing.

"I'm sorry Sonic…" Nicole murmured.

_"For what!?"_

"For roboticizing you. M-Maybe if I'd thought for just a little longer then maybe y-you'd-" Nicole began stammering, and Sonic felt her begin to shake.

 _"That wasn't your fault! I mean, we did it to save the world, right?"_ Sonic sounded shocked. Did Nicole really blame herself for what had happened to him?

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about that day…" Nicole's grip tightened even more. "Playing out scenarios and plans in my head, different ways we could've gotten you out of there…"

Sonic broke the hug and faced Nicole to him, _“Nicole, from what Sally has told me, it sounded like I would die for the people around me. Strangers, friends, family, even enemies, and from the look of the footage from the thing that’s now a giant piece of scrap metal, I wasn’t going to change my mind. You can’t really put yourself at fault when someone is that stubborn,”_ Nicole stifled a laugh. _“I might not have my memories but I've got a feeling inside that tells me I can trust you! You wouldn't have done it if there really was any other way, I'm sure of it!”_

Nicole wiped her eyes, and let her grip on Sonic go, "I suppose you're right...and that situation could've had a way worse ending than the one it did, but still…."

 _"Nicole, I'm **fine**."_ The robian looked at her with two pure green eyes. _"If I had to do this to save the world, then so be it."_

A faint smile returned to Nicole's face, "Glad to see you're still yourself, Sonic."

"Ummm...hello? Am I interrupting something?"

Someone new? Sonic knew that voice very well, and identified some very mixed feelings towards it. Someone he was close to for sure, but...someone he disagreed with at the same time. Spinning round, he saw a yellow mongoose, with long, bright purple hair. Her body language seemed to indicate that she was anxious, as did her tone of voice.

Upon seeing her, Nicole's hologram form vanished, the lynx retreating back into the computer.

"Ah, no, wait! Don't go!" The mongoose called out to Nicole. "Please! I want...I need to talk to you!"

Sonic looked at the screen with major concern, _“Nicole what’s wrong?”_ The mongoose looked at him confused. She couldn’t understand him but that wasn't important right now.

"You got what you wanted Mina. I am not in the city anymore. I will no longer cause others to feel unsafe. What is there to talk about?"

Sonic stared at the text on screen perplexed, the holes in his memory not giving him any insight into the situation. Feeling like this conversation was a personal one, he silently slipped out of the room.

“Nicole, I-I-I…That evening a few weeks back...that concert... my song went really, really wrong. I never wanted to hurt anyone, all I wanted to do was empower people, b-but-” Mina took a deep breath to try and soothe her shaking voice. “But I screwed up. I let myself be driven by my stupid, meaningless nightmares, and I turned the city against you…”

“...” Nicole said nothing.

“But I won’t let that stand! Me, Ash and the Forget Me Knots are going to write a new song, telling people that they shouldn’t fear you, and protesting your exile!”

Nicole’s hologram form rematerialised in the lab. “That’s...very sweet of you, Mina,” The lynx complimented shyly.

Now able to interact with Nicole’s physical form, Mina gently placed a hand on the hologram’s shoulder, and met Nicole face to face. “I really am sorry for what I’ve done. I know I can’t fix everything right away, but...can you forgive me…?”

“Yes. I forgive you.”

“Awesome!” Mina sounded incredibly relieved. “So, about that song! I thought this time, I should run the lyrics by you, make sure you’re ok with them!”

“I’ll take a look in a second,” Nicole assured the now excited mongoose, “But I should probably tell you, that I haven’t been exiled. I actually uploaded myself to Freedom HQ by choice…”

Mina fell silent, her good mood lost as quickly as it came.

“Mina? What’s wrong?”

“D-Did no one tell you what happened…?”

__________________________________________________________________

Sonic wandered around the outside of Freedom HQ, bored. Oh well, being bored was probably better than essentially eavesdropping on a private conversation. He kicked the ground, his lost memories still bothering him. He had a strong suspicion that he had, at one point, known what the mongoose girl was talking about. And now, he couldn’t even remember her name without being told.

Wait a minute. He heard footsteps. The robian whipped around at lightning speed, wondering who on mobius could be behind him. “Woah! Easy Sonic, it’s just me!” The person behind Sonic turned out to just be his Uncle. Sonic felt a little embarrassed for being so uptight. “I just need to get those tools I was using to fix you a few days ago so I can...so I can have them to hand when I need them next.” Sonic shot Chuck a skeptical look. His Uncle seemed strangely unsure of what he was doing with those tools.

____________________________

"S-so uhh…" Mina had slipped right back into an uneasy state. "Yesterday evening, the council voted on your exile, a-and it passed. Oh and uhh...Rotor quit the council."

Nicole's face said it all, she looked incredibly distraught.

"Buuuut," Mina continued, hoping to at least provide some comfort. "My mum said she was thinking of joining the council, I mean obviously there's the whole voting process and stuff, but if she does get it I'm sure she'd help you out!"

"R-right." Nicole stared down at the floor, still very much in a state of shock.

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault, I-"

"No, it's not," Nicole cut Mina off. "You never wanted this. I don't blame you for what's happened."

"You really don't?" The mongoose looked like she was about to cry.

"No."

Wordlessly, Mina wrapped her arms around Nicole, extremely grateful to have been forgiven.

"That's good to hear."

Mina let go of Nicole and they both spun around to see an owl man standing in the doorway to Freedom HQ's lab.

"Sorry to interrupt you, ladies, but I need Nicole's help with a certain project of mine, if she's willing to assist."

"Oh...sure…?" Nicole hesitated, a little unsure, before agreeing.

"Excellent. Please come with me." The owl began to lead her outside.

"Can I-"

"No, this project is confidential," Harvey quickly cut Mina off. "But don't worry, Nicole should hopefully be back soon, and then you can get to discussing that song of yours. Which I think is an excellent idea, by the way. You have a lot more influence than you realised," Harvey turned away as he went to exit HQ. "Though I hope you know that now."

Mina nodded silently, and was left standing alone in the lab for a few moments, before Sonic and his Uncle both walked in. Charles went to go and pick some stuff that Mina couldn't make out, and Sonic cautiously approached her with a wave.

"Oh, Hi Sonic," Mina waved back, having heard about Sonic's situation, and therefore not too confused by seeing him. Sonic went and grabbed a notepad, before coming back and sitting with Mina.

**'Can I ask you a question?'**

"Sure, what's up?"

**'How long has it been since Babylon Garden nearly destroyed the planet?'**

"About a day or two. Why do you ask?"

**'Oh, no reason in particular. You tend to lose track of time when you get really bored, that's all.'**

It was a lie, and he felt a little bad about it, but Sonic didn't really feel like explaining the whole situation to Mina, partially because he didn't fully understand what had happened himself.

But being out for over 24 hours? Maybe close to 48? That was a really scary thought. Who knows what could've happened in that time? And that raised the question of how long had it taken Nicole to find him?

**'So what's everyone up to today?'**

"Hmm? You mean the Freedom Fighters? I think they're escorting Ki- Elias out of the city today." Mina explained. "Hey! That probably won't take them all day, will it? We should totally hang out when they're finished!"

**'I can't go back into the city, remember? The only reason I got away with it the other day was because everyone was busy evacuating.'**

"Oh right. But I do need to talk to Sally. And you for that matter. I was kind of horrible to you and Sally after my concert." Mina played with her hands awkwardly. "But you don't remember that, do you….?"

Sonic shook his head.

Mina decided to change the topic.  
"What on mobius is your Uncle doing in there?" She pointed to the closed lab doors behind them.

**'Getting tools and stuff apparently.'**

"Why'd he need to close the door for that?" Mina pondered.

**'Don't know. He's being secretive.'**

"Isn't everyone being secretive today? I can't help but get the feeling there's something going on that I wasn't told about."

**'What do you mean by that?'**

"Just before you came in, this owl guy came and said he needed Nicole's help on a confidential project."

**'That is weird. I wonder what's going on.'**

"Who knows," Mina sighed. "But with all the crazy stuff that's happened over the past few days, I don't think anything's going to surprise me anymore."

________________________________

A lot later in the day, Sonic found himself alone, watching the sun set. His Uncle had left a while ago, and Nicole was busy messaging back and forth with Mina and her band, talking about music.

The robian found himself slipping in and out of daydreams, wondering what his old life was like. Well, until he noticed the figure of Bunnie Rabbot jogging past Freedom HQ. Sonic was instantly snapped out of his daydream, springing to his feet, and going outside, he ran to his friend, wondering where she was going.

Sonic caught up with her and beeped quietly as a greeting, "Oh...hey sugarhog…" Sonic took a step back upon seeing Bunnie's slightly tear-stained muzzle. He immediately realised something had happened.

 _"Where are you going?"_ He asked before cursing silently in his head.

"I don't understand, Sonic…" Bunnie looked incredibly pained. "Look...I need to go. You can't come where I'm going."

Sonic grabbed her hand, pulling her back. He didn't like the idea of someone sad potentially running off somewhere dangerous, much less one of his friends.

"Sonic...I...Antoine is in a coma because...because I wasn't strong enough to protect him." The rabbit took a deep breath and pulled away from Sonic. "You have to let me do this."

Sonic let his hand fall back down to his side, _“You’ll be safe right?”_

"I don't...Look. I know it's hard, but you've got to trust me on this. I know what I'm doing." Bunnie gave a small smile, as if to reassure Sonic. "I'll be back before you know it, safe and sound, I promise."

Sonic stayed silent for a second but nodded reluctantly. Bunnie walked off, headed places that he could only guess about, and the robian stood very still in the clearing for a while. Antoine. He definitely recognised the name, and he had a feeling that he was another Freedom Fighter that Sonic simply hadn't met in his robian state yet.

And now someone that Sonic may never get the chance to meet.

The robian trudged back to Freedom HQ, now feeling impossibly upset. Upset at his lack of memories, upset at the fact he was forced to be cooped up on Freedom HQ. He had considered violating his exile, going into the city anyway, but he ultimately decided against it. His friends already had enough to deal with right now, without him causing them extra problems too.

The sky was dark when Sonic returned to HQ. Mina had left a while ago, but a new face had taken her place. Sally sat with Nicole, seemingly ranting about something that had happened earlier. Sonic waved as he came and sat with them, silently listening to the rant.

"-And on top of all that, I'm really worried about Amy. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate how she's helping everyone out, but if she doesn't stop soon, she's going to drop dead."

Sonic thought Sally looked as though she had worked herself so hard that she might drop dead too, but didn't say anything.

"Oh, and there's the matter of you two. I'm still not happy with you two being stuck out here, and I won't be until-"

"Sally," Nicole firmly placed a hand on Sally's shoulder, and stopped her speech in its tracks. "Mina and I have already been talking about ways we can sort that out. How does the saying go…'don't bite off more than you can chew?'"

"That's the saying," the stressed chipmunk sighed. "And you're right, I shouldn't try and do more than I can handle. Plus, I never realised how much I was going to miss having you around until you were gone…"

Sonic scribbled a message on his notepad, explaining the situation with Bunnie, and showed it to them both.

Sally's expression became even more stressed.

____________________________

Silver the hedgehog was not having a very good time. All he wanted to do was not live in an apocalypse, but as time went on, he felt as though his efforts were becoming more and more futile. The Freedom Fighters were stubbornly insisting that there was no traitor amongst them, but Silver knew that wasn't true. He had almost 200 years worth of history books, and spoken knowledge passed down through generations, all telling him the same thing.

There was a traitor within the Freedom Fighters.

So why didn't they believe him? Sure, Silver didn't have any evidence as to which of them it was, but it was clear that it was one of them.

But they wouldn't listen.

And so here he was, stuck in this time, no way to get home, feeling absolutely useless, sitting on a park bench. Everyone around him looked so happy, and there were so many people, all taking the beauty of their time for granted, completely unaware that it could all be stripped away from them at any moment.

The time traveler sighed, leaned over, resting his hands on his knees. He didn't want anyone to have to experience the wonders of this time being taken away. But he was at a complete loss for what to do now.

"Well done, Silver," he muttered to himself. "You were wrong about the traitor again. You failed to save the future, again."

"Having problems today, son?" a stranger took notice of the hedgehog's woes, and came to sit with him.

"Not just today. Every day. Every day, every minute, every second spent trying to save the world, stop the apocalypse, but now matter what I do, it doesn't feel like I've made any progress! The Freedom Fighters are falling apart, and Naugus is already in power!"  
Silver glanced at the stranger, a brown owl. He didn't recognise the guy in the slightest, but he started venting, he couldn't help it. His anger faded, leaving his voice a lot more monotone.  
"I've arrived too late to save the future, and I'm stuck here, unable to do anything but watch things fall apart."

"Hmm…" The stranger stroked his chin. "I've heard rumors of a time travelling hedgehog around here. I suppose that's you?"

Silver's mood plummeted even further.  
"Oh, people know about me now? That's...that's great, I'm sure that won't screw up the timeline even more…"

"So...you're a guy with extraordinary powers from the future, who wants to help save this time, without being detected by too many people?"

"Hard to believe, I know…" Silver groaned. "I don't even know why I'm telling you all this…"

"Luck? Fate, perhaps?"

Silver whipped round to look the stranger dead in the eyes.  
"What's that supposed to mean?"

"If you're interested in saving the future, but avoiding the history books, then I have an offer for you." The stranger reached out his hand. "I'm currently putting together a group called the Secret Freedom Fighters, and you seem perfect for the job."

"Secret...Freedom Fighters?"

"Don't worry," the owl soothed. "No traitors or any of all that. This group is made up only of people I trust."

Silver hesitated, and then shook the owl's hand.  
"Silver the hedgehog."  
"Harvey Who, but you can call me Director Who. Follow me."

Silver was lead the accurately named Secret HQ, a hidden base underneath New Mobotropolis, left over from the Iron Dominion's occupation, now modified into the main base of operations for the Secret Freedom Fighters.

Silver stepped into the base, and instantly all eyes were on him.  
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet our newest member, Silver."  
Harvey introduced him, and Silver took a look at his new teammates. A light blue hedgehog, an unfinished looking robot, and a brown lynx, nervously twiddling his thumbs. He recognised none of them.

"This isn't all of us, don't worry," Harvey said, noticing Silver looking slightly confused. "Nicole and Elias are preoccupied right now, and we still need a few more recruits."

"R-Right." Silver stood in the same place, shuffling his feet uncomfortably.

"Make yourself at home, boy. Since I'm assuming you don't have anywhere else to stay." The owl passed for a second, thinking. "I'll grab you some bedding later."

"Bedding?"

"You know...like.. blankets and stuff…?" The lynx spoke up for the first time. "Who are you?"

"My name's Silver the hedgehog, and I'm here from the future, to prevent the apocalypse." He stated.

"Cool! My name's Larry Lynx, and I'm here because I fell through a tree stump."

Silver frowned, unsure if that was a joke or not.

"That, and he's got crazy luck powers!" the robot called from across the room. "Shard. I think that's the name I'm going with. I'm here because this old man's rebuilding me."

"Charles." The hedgehog looked up from working on Shard for a second, before getting back to work on the robot.

Evening came.

Charles and Larry left, and the director brought a roll mat, sleeping bag and blanket for Silver, before going home himself, leaving only Silver and Shard together.

Silver sat, wrapped in the blanket, enjoying the fluffiness of it.

"That feel good?" The robot asked.

"Yeah!"

"That's cool. So, what do you think of this whole Secret Freedom Fighter thing?"

"It seems like it's going to be a big help to my mission, and you guys all seem committed to the cause. Not sure Charles likes me though." The time traveler admitted.

"Don't worry about him. He's just not feeling good because the roboticizer been used to hurt people, again. Apparently it got his nephew this time."  
The robot paused before smirking.  
"They all thought I was deactivated for that part.

"His nephew?" Silver asked curiously. He had a suspicion he might know who that was but didn't want to guess.

"Yeah, Sonic. Great guy, I nearly killed him once."

Silver paid no attention to Shard's comment, instead only focusing on what he mentioned about Sonic being roboticized. That was...strange. It seemed like such a crucial detail, and yet somehow he'd never heard anyone make any mention of it. The hedgehog sat in silence, baffled.

"You good down there?" Shard questioned.

Silver shook his head.  
"In all my years worth of research, of everything that happens in this time, I've never heard or seen anything about Sonic getting roboticized."

"I don't know what to tell you," Shard said apologetically. "Sonic's a robot now. No flesh, all circuits and wires."

Silver rubbed his tired eyes, and groaned.

Nothing was making much sense anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this au also has a discord server!  
> heres the link, if anyones interested!  
> https://discord.gg/aE9EeM


	6. Familiar faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Fighters take a trip to the Wolf Pack Nation, and run into some old friends and enemies

Nikki knew something bad was going to happen to him. It was inevitable. The doctor didn't just call a random legionnaire who nearly everyone forgot the name of to meet him in person for no reason. 

He met the doctor in his work room, heart racing. The mad scientist's eyes seemed to be panning up and down, as though examining nikki. The dark blue hedgehog gulped, not daring to move. 

"Hmm...Yes, you'll do nicely," Eggman muttered.

"N-Nicely for what, Sir?" 

Eggman simply grinned, not giving an answer. 

"How about you lie down on that table over there," The doctor gestured to it. "Then I'll explain it all."

Nikki complied, despite every inch of his body screaming at him not to. The doctor stood over him, silent, definitely not explaining anything.

"...Sir?"

Nikki glanced to his sides, and noticed another legionnaire coming at him with...a syringe? The hedgehog tried to leap away, but suddenly realised he was being held down to the table. Nikki desperately fought to get free, before inhaling sharply, feeling a needle pierce his skin. 

And then it all went dark.

_____________________________

"So, Team Fighters! It's composed of me, Tails, and you, if you want to join us of course!" Amy excitedly explained Team Freedom and Team Fighters, the Freedom Fighters' latest idea. "We're going to be going after Eggman and stopping his plans, and basically handling anything that goes on outside of New Mobotropolis. That way, no one can tell us you're violating your exile!"

Sonic nodded his head rapidly, instantly liking the idea a lot. It filled him with a sense of purpose, the feeling that this was what he was supposed to do.

"You'll join us!?" Amy asked.

The rapid nodding continued.

"Awesome! So, first of all, we need to talk to our friends at the Wolf Pack nation. We're going to ask for some help since we're...you know...down a few..."

A moment of silence fell over the room.

"Anyway, Tails is waiting outside with the tornado, if you're ready to go." Amy continued. Sonic gave her a thumbs up, and they ran to the plane.

_____________________________

"How do you feel, 'Metal' Sonic?" Eggman leaned over the hedgehog, releasing the straps binding him to the table. 

"Doctor. I feel...different…" For the first time he could remember Metal Sonic felt overwhelmed. There were so many new...weird things. The metal of the table felt as though it was sucking all the heat out of him, making him want to move, as quickly as possible. There was a foreign pulsing sensation in his chest, uncomfortable and new.

"What did you do to me…?"

"Why don't you take a look at yourself?" The doctor grinned maliciously. 

Metal looked down at his body. No longer made up of metallic, conjoined segments, now made of flesh and fur, all joined seamlessly. Almost as if he were a real mobian.

"How did you accomplish this, Doctor?" Metal tested his new voice, and tried to get used to how his tongue felt.

"A poor boy named Nikki made the mistake of looking like Sonic. All it took was a few injections, some genetic modifications, a few cybernetics, carefully placing a power gem in his chest and fixing his stupid haircut, and this body was a blank slate to transfer your data to." Eggman explained.

"Ok. But what is the point of all this?"

"Your counterpart, your faker, was recently roboticized.” He explained, activating a monitor showing some, although somewhat glitched out, a full view of the now robian Sonic before the collapse of the World Robotizer.

“I felt it was only fitting to turn the table around fully." Metal said nothing in response, leaving Eggman to continue talking. "Would you like to take that body for a test drive? I have an important mission for you."

_________________________________

"It's good to be back here," Amy commented. "We haven't come here for such a long time!"

Sonic wondered if the 'we' included him. There was an air of familiarity about this place, with its many tall trees and mountains, and the way the village was built, but, he supposed trees, mountains and homes weren't that uncommon of a sight.

"Hello guys!" Amy waved to a group of four wolves and two overlanders, the older ones carrying the younger, shorter ones on their shoulders. "What're you up to?"

"Shhh," One of the taller wolves, a pink one in a blue outfit, motioned to be quiet. "You'll let them know we're here."

"Let them know we're here…? What on mobius are you guys doing, Lyco?" Tails asked, puzzled.

"Eavesdropping." Replied the pink wolf's twin. 

"Oh...What're you listening in on?" Amy questioned.

"Mama got taken by the Felidae!" the small grey wolf on Lyco's shoulders whispered. "We want to hear what they're going to do next!"

"They _think_ Lupe has been taken by the Felidae," Lyco's twin, Leeta corrected. "But we have other suspicions."

"The Felidae would not be as quiet and efficient as the kidnapper in question," Lyco explained. "So we think it was Eggman."

Sonic hung back, behind Amy and Tails listening in an awkward silence. He'd been given a few confused glances, but no one had questioned him yet, probably too distracted with the task at hand. And besides, he was slightly distracted by something else.

The robian thought he could hear sounds of trouble, coming from within the trees, his ears alerting him of some faint cries coming from in there. They were too far away for him to figure out what they were saying, but he had this odd urge to go and see what that was all about. If someone was in trouble, he should go and help them, right? 

He glanced at his friends. They were still preoccupied, discussing the situation.

Careful not to push himself too hard, for fear of shutting down again, Sonic sped off into the trees, towards the distant cries.

His journey took him through an endless maze of trees that all looked identical, making the place nearly impossible to navigate. The robian wondered if this had been a bad idea, getting lost was the last thing he needed. He was about to turn back before, right before him, a white cat in a red robe burst out of the trees before him. Two yellow eyes settled on him in anger and fear.

"No no no!" She hissed. "Not another Eggman creation! The queen did not give herself up for me to be captured again!" Wait! Sonic recognised her! He didn't have a clue what she was going on about, or who she was, and he didn't really have time to figure it out anyway. 

From within the trees, came what Sonic could only presume she was running from.

His immediate thought was that the cat's chaser looked a lot like him. A blue hedgehog, about the same height as he was. The hedgehog bore cybernetic limbs, which Sonic couldn't help but feel like had an oddly familiar design, but his torso and head were far from robotic. No, the hedgehog appeared to be very much organic. What appeared to be a power gem was strapped around his chest.

As soon as the hedgehog spotted Sonic, his attention immediately switched from the cat to the robian.

"Ah, my loathsome copy. I was not expecting to meet you so soon."

_"Who are you!?"_

"Me? You may once have called me Metal Sonic. Though now, I think that nickname applies more to you."

So he understood Sonic. That was good, even if the robian was confused as to how. Metal Sonic...the name seemed very familiar to him. 

_"What do you want?"_

"The Felidae queen. Step aside, or I'll be forced to see just how durable that new form of yours is." He beckoned to the white cat, now stood behind Sonic. 

_"You run, I'll hold him back,"_ Sonic muttered quietly. He was met with a bewildered, untrusting expression. Of course, how could he keep forgetting? Frantically, he quickly looked back at Metal. The hedgehog looked like he was going to attack at any moment. Out of options, Sonic gave his instructions one last attempt. 

_"GO!"_ he shouted, pointing back the way he came, hoping that would give the cat some direction. Thankfully, she seemed to get the message, and dashed off.  
Metal tried to follow, but Sonic lept in his way, blocking the hedgehog's path. 

Metal growled in frustration, and lunged at Sonic, nearly knocking the robian off his feet. Sonic just about managed to keep his balance, and hit Metal back with his fist. Metal's quills bristled angrily as he tried to dart around Sonic, still trying to get to the Queen. Sonic got ready to hit him back again, but this time Metal was ready, swerving to avoid the robian's hit, and running into the trees.

Sonic thought fast. It was like a maze in there, right? So maybe he could try and misdirect Metal, and lead him somewhere else. Well, it was worth a shot! Sonic caught up to Metal, and deliberately blocked him off in the wrong direction. Metal's eyes darted around with uncertainty, trying to reorient himself, before dashing past Sonic again. Phew. The robot was now headed in the wrong direction.

_________________________________

"Queen Hathor?" Lyco exclaimed, as Tails nearly crashed into the cat at full speed.

"N-No, I am merely an emissary. The true queen and grand chief are in great danger!" 

"Hey," Leeta whispered. "What's wrong with the queen?" 

"I think Sonic mentioned something about the Felidae's culture, where what they wear determines who they are or something?" Tails muttered, recalling all the times Sonic had told him about his adventures.

"Now that you mention it, she does look somewhat...underdressed…" Lyco observed.

"Well...umm...emissary Hathor, can you please tell us what happened to The Queen and Lupe?" Amy asked.

"The Grand Chief and Queen were captured by Eggman and his legion. The two quickly agreed that with them gone, the Felidae and the Wolf Pack would blame each other, and fight. So the Queen herself and her robes up, and sent me here so that I can stop her people from fighting with the Wolf Pack." Hathor explained.

"Did you see Sonic whilst you were escaping?" Amy turned the conversation to her missing friend.

"No, I did not. The only one I saw other than my chaser was a curious blue robot. I thought it was one of Eggman's but it protected me. I would like to thank it, if I ever see it again."

"That was...nevermind." Amy facepalmed. "Can you tell us where the Queen and Lupe are being held?"

"The legion's regional base of operations." Hathor answered.

"We know where that is," Lyco mentioned. "If Hathor goes and stops her...the Queen's people from tearing the Wolf Pack apart…"

"...Then Lyco and I will take Team Fighters to the legion's base." Leeta finished.

_________________________________

Metal had definitely caught on to what Sonic had done, but it was too late. With barely any recognisable landmarks here, he was truly lost, without much of a chance to find the white cat, which was good.

The only problem was that Sonic was lost with him.

Having realised that he'd been tricked, Metal had now focused all his attention on furiously attacking Sonic, and it was going...interestingly. Though Metal seemed to have a better idea of how his new form operated, he still wasn't perfectly adjusted, and neither was Sonic. The fight primarily consisted of both of them trying to hit the other, but also dodging every blow that was thrown at them.

That was, until Sonic remembered that homing attack move. Sonic curled up into a spiky, metallic ball, and hit Metal directly, before bouncing back and landing on his feet. 

Metal had been knocked over by the force of the blow, and was now crouched on the ground, shuddering, hand firmly planted on his right cheek. 

"What did you do to me!?" The hedgehog spat, still trembling. Sonic frowned. 

He hadn't hit Metal that hard, had he?

His rival slowly removed his hand from his cheek, revealing a deep, red gash in the side of his face. Metal stared down at his blood covered hand with a look of horror, mouth and eyes wide open with shock. 

Nothing happened for a few moments, until eventually, Metal retreated, leaving Sonic alone. Sonic considered going after him, but eventually decided against it. He needed to find his friends, the rest of Team Fighters. But how?

He looked at the trees around him, some impossibly tall. If he had some way of climbing them, then maybe he could get his bearings. Sonic made an attempt, but he couldn't get a good enough grip to make his way up very far. 

The robian tapped his foot impatiently, trying to figure out a way to get up one of the trees. He made an attempt to get up one again, and this time he was surprised to find that he was having a much easier time, despite nothing seemingly being different. He examined his hands.

They now bore claws? Did he have retractable claws? Sonic felt strangely uneasy. This was the second time he'd discovered a seemingly new ability with some very convenient timing. Oh well, now was no time to complain about it.

His head burst through the canopy of the trees, and he surveyed his surroundings. From up here, he could make out what appeared to be a building or structure of some kind, amongst the endless sea of trees. With nowhere else in sight, Sonic slid down the tree, and was on his way.

_______________________________________

"Tails, Lyco, go do your thing!" Amy cried, whacking a legionnaire over the head as she did so. "We'll hold them back out here!"

The two raced inside the base, determined and ready for whatever might be coming for them.

"You sort out that plan you had with the trackers," Lyco instructed. "I'm going after Lupe." 

Tails nodded, "If you're not out in ten minutes, I'll come and find you."

"Ok. Watch your back."

"You too."

Tails flew off, and Lyco continued running, searching the base desperately. Speeding to where the cells apparently were, she looked around. No Lupe.

Before the wolf had time to look any further, a pair of strong hands caught her wrists and held them behind her back. Struggling, Lyco turned around, just enough to make out that her captor was a legionnaire, and judging by the ears and tail, was also a cat. 

"Down the main hall, to the centre of the base." The legionnaire whispered. "Grand master Drago has the Grand Chief and the Queen's robes. There's no one else with him, they're all outside. Now, make it look like you've overpowered me, and go save her."

Lyco obliged, breaking away from the mysterious cat, who turned tail and ran the moment the wolf got free. 

"Wait!" Lupe whispered loudly, as the legionnaire ran off. "Who are you?"

The cat turned around, face hidden by her hood. "An ally." And then she was off.

___________________________________

This definitely was not where Sonic had meant to end up, but maybe that was a good thing, as he'd just spotted two familiar, pink faces.

Smacking a legionnaire in the back of the head, and pushing them out the way, Sonic called out, letting Amy and Leeta know he was there.

"Hi Sonic!" Amy greeted, much too bubbly for their current situation. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"So it's true then," Leeta turned away from the horde of enemies for a moment. "Sonic really was roboticized."

"Oh, right, we never really introduced him to you, did we," Amy sounded a little sheepish. "How about we do that later, when we're not, you know, fighting for our and our friend's lives?"

"Sounds good to me!" the wolf agreed, kicking away an attacker. 

Sonic punched an oncoming legionnaire in the face, noticing a lack of any claws again. He really needed to talk to someone about this whole 'conveniently finding out about new ability that then vanishes after I use it' thing. His patchy memory might've been deceiving him, but he got the feeling that this wasn't normal for a robian.  
______________________________

Lyco stood, hidden, holding her breath and staying quiet. Her mysterious 'ally' hadn't lied. Lupe was being held down, restrained to some kind of operating table, and as she'd been told, only Drago was there with her, wrapped in what she recognised as the Filidae Queen's robes. 

The wolf waited, watching closely for a second where Drago's back would be turned. Finally, after a painful minute of waiting, she spotted her chance, and seized the opportunity, pummelling the GrandMaster into the ground, and snatching the robes off of him.

"Lyco!" Lupe sounded relieved beyond belief. The pink wolf rushed over, and began freeing Lupe immediately. 

"Are you hurt, Grand Chief?"

"Not at all, Lyco. How about you?"

"I'm fine too. Come with me. Our friends will be expecting us any minute now."

And with that, the two wolves dashed outside, right onto the scene of a battle, where Sonic, Leeta and Amy were still furiously fighting off an onslaught of foes.  
Just at that moment, Tails slowly descended from above them, joining the group.

"The trackers have been placed on Death Egg II, Amy!" Tails confirmed.

"In that case," Amy shouted, making sure all her friends could hear her. "I think it's time we make what Sally would call a tactical retreat!"

"Follow me!" Lupe called. "I know the quickest way back!" 

All five others silently agreed, and followed her, wasting no time in getting out of there. The group sped through the trees, fighting off any enemies reckless enough to try and follow them back. Shortly, the group burst out of the trees, back to where the Wolf Pack lived.

"Phew!" Amy breathed. "That was way quicker than the way there!"

"It pays to know shortcuts," Was all Lupe answered. "Anyway, it's good to see you again, friends. I'm sorry it had to be under such unfortunate circumstances."

"It was never going to be under good circumstances," Tails sighed. "We came to warn you about the Death Egg II, and when we saw it headed here, we wanted to ask for your help with it, but...well we know how that went…"

"We can still help, if you need us to!" Leeta offered. 

"I appreciate the offer, but the Death Egg II is already on the move," Tails pulled out the Miles Electric, showing them the movement of the ship.

"That's not a problem, we can still help!" Lyco retorted.

"So, are you two ready to leave the WolfPack nation, then?" Lupe asked.

"No no no, it's not like that!" Leeta hastily corrected. "It's just that we've been thinking recently…"

"...Sonic and all his friends make a real difference to mobius, whilst all we do is stand and guard," Lyco continued. "And we want to help make an impact too!"

"Well if that's the case, how would you two feel about a certain, secret, job offer?" Lupe asked. "How about I take you somewhere quiet to talk about it for a moment?"

"Then, if you take it, you can hitch a ride to Freedom HQ with us!" Tails chipped in.

"Sounds like a plan," Lyco accepted.

The wolves went off to wherever 'somewhere quieter' was, and Tails, Sonic and Amy all headed back to the tornado.

"Wow," Amy sighed, leaning on the side of the plane as Tails checked everything was in order for take off. "First day of Team Fighters, and it's already been a wild ride. I probably should've expected that though...How are you holding up, Sonic?"

Sonic gave her a thumbs up. The day had certainly been more action packed than some of the others, but he didn't think that was a bad thing. There was something very natural feeling about doing this, as though he'd done it time and time before. Judging by what he'd been told about himself, that was probably the case.

"I wonder what that secret job thing was all about…" Tails pondered.

Sonic shrugged.  
He wondered if it was connected to that 'secret project' Nicole was apparently part of. 

Amy looked up to see the Wolf Pack twins running towards them.  
"So, I take it you're hitching a ride back with us then?" 

"Yep!" Leeta confirmed, hopping onto the tornado. 

"You wouldn't care to tell us what this 'secret job' is, would you?" Tails questioned.

"Not a chance!" Lyco said, also boarding the tornado. "We've been told to keep it top secret!" 

Sonic scrambled onto the wing alongside Leeta, who looked at him curiously.  
"We never did get around to those introductions, did we?" 

"Oh right!" Amy gasped, remembering that it hadn't been done. She began explaining as the plane took off. "Sonic, this is Lyco and Leeta! They're from the Wolf Pack, who are...well a pack of wolves, who've helped us out in the past!"

Sonic nodded. The twins certainly had an air of familiarity about them. He didn't feel as strongly about them as other people who were closer to him, but he got the impression that they were people who he could trust, and rely on.

"Why are you explaining who we are to him?" Lyco questioned uncertainty.

"Sonic...Sonic lost most of his memories when he got roboticized…" Amy explained somewhat awkwardly. "So...he doesn't really remember you guys that well…"

"I've theorised that the memory loss is because of the process Eggman's roboticizer uses to remove free will half working," Tails told them. "So hopefully it isn't a permanent memory loss, because as we know, a robian's free will can be restored."

"Forgive the obvious question, but have you tried using methods that were used to restore robians free will in the past on him?" Leeta suggested.

"I think Eggman's given him an immunity of some kind to that stuff." 

Sonic just lingered on the wing of the tornado, feeling slightly weird about this whole conversation. That feeling of guilt over being unable to remember people washed over him once more.

Before they knew it, they'd landed by Freedom HQ. The twins headed to New Mobotropolis for whatever the 'secret mission' was, and Sonic, Amy and Tails headed inside Freedom HQ, deciding to chill out together before Tails and Amy had to leave.

"Where did you get off to earlier by the way?" Tails asked.

**'I heard cries for help. I rescued a white cat from a strange mobian who looked like me. He said his name was Metal Sonic?'**

"Yeah, Metal Sonic is a robot that Eggman created to combat you." Tails said, recalling their many encounters with the robot. "But he's not a mobian though?"

**'He was a dark blue hedgehog. Three distinctive head spikes. Cybernetic limbs. He bled when I hit him.'**

Tails and Amy exchanged puzzled looks. 

"That's really strange…" Tails muttered. "We'll have to try and figure out what that's all about next time we see him."

**'Also I randomly gained claws for a little while? And now they're gone?'**

Tails simply sighed, and leaned backwards into the sofa, tired out of his mind.  
"I really have no idea about that one, Sonic…" 

_______________________________________

"What do you mean, 'there's no job involving helping the king'?" Lyco retorted angrily. 

"I mean what I say," The ugly troll in a crown growled, trying not to sound annoyed. "No job exists, and no job ever will exist. I do not need aid in protecting this city. Perhaps you were misinformed."

"The Grand Chief wouldn't lie to us." Leeta stated, quick to jump to Lupe's defence. 

"I'm not saying you were lied to. All I'm saying is that perhaps-"

"You've made your point." Charles cut Naugus off. "But there's nothing more to say. Let me escort these two out, and we'll get on with business." 

Lyco looked frustrated, and Leeta looked confused, but they followed the blue hedgehog regardless. 

"Make sure we're not being followed," Charles whispered. 

The twins both shrugged at each other, but checked their backs anyway, as they were led not out of the city centre, but towards a secret base.

"More new recruits, Director," Charles led the twins to the owl. "I'll hand the explaining over to you, before the council wonders where I've gotten to."

And then he was gone.

"Hello, ladies." Harvey greeted, "judging by the looks on your faces, I'd say you're thoroughly confused right now, correct?"

"A little bit, yes." Leeta admitted.

"Right. Well, the short version is that you were sent to help the King. But not the rude imposter you had the misfortune of encountering earlier. The true King." Harvey provided an explanation.

"So what you're saying is, the wrong person got into power, and you need help getting the right person back on the throne?" Lyco tried to piece together what had been said to them.

"Indeed. And we have reason to believe that the current king has malicious intentions. So…" The owl extended his hand for a handshake. "Will you join us?"

Both twins took turns to shake the directors hand.

"This isn't exactly what we thought we were signing up for…" Leeta admitted.

"...But Naugus needs to be defeated by the sounds of it, so you've got yourself a pair of secret agents!" Lyco finished.

"Excellent, I'm glad to hear it. I heard about your feats earlier today, quite impressive really." Harvey complemented. 

"Oh, don't give us too much credit," Leeta said, caught off guard by the sudden complement. "Team Fighters helped too."

"Yeah, and without that strange legionnaire, I might not have found the Grand Chief in time," Lyco murmured.

"A strange legionnaire helped you?" The owl suddenly sounded very intrigued. 

"Yes. They pretended to be capturing me, but instead gave me the location of the Grand Chief, and claimed to be an ally?" The wolf relived the odd moments in her head.

"Agent Ace?" Harvey called for Silver. "I have a mission for you."

___________________________________

Silver wondered just how he'd ended up here. The reasoning of 'Larry has terrible luck, the wolf twins are exhausted, and Shard is the probably the least sneaky robot ever, so we're sending you' seemed sound at the time, but the 14 year old hedgehog was beginning to think that even though he wore the same dark clothes as the other legionaries, he wasn't doing the best at blending in. 

Maybe it also wasn't helping that he barely knew who he was looking for. All he knew is that it was a black cat, presumably female, who would likely be guarding prison cells. So for the past six minutes, the time traveler had been wandering around aimlessly, trying to locate the prison cells.

In doing so, the hedgehog was earning more and more suspicious looks. Silver groaned internally. Why had no one bothered to put any maps in this place?

After another minute, he noticed a door he hadn't tried yet. Poking his head through revealed a large hallway, each wall lined with cells, which were thankfully empty. At the very end of the hall, stood a single guard, two black, pointed ears poking out from the hood that was covering their head. 

He approached cautiously, readying his powers just in case this went horribly wrong. 

"What do you want?" The cat sounded uneasy as Silver drew nearer.

"I heard about the incident with the Wolf Pack girl earlier," Silver started off vague at first, and after registering that his comment had prompted a sharp gasp from the cat, pressed further. "About how you called yourself her 'ally'."

The cat dropped into a fighting stance. "Woah! All I was going to say is that if you're her ally, th-then…" He drew back his hood, revealing his face. "So am I."

"Silver the hedgehog. I'm here on behalf of Director Who."

The cat pulled her hood away, revealing a white muzzle, green eyes, and a large tuft of spiky, black hair. "Hershey the cat. Who's this 'Director' you're talking about?"

"The Director is putting together a team of secret agents. He recently recruited Lyco, as well as her sister Leeta, and heard about how you helped earlier. He thought you'd be perfect for the job, since you know...you've already got a lot of experience working in secret…" 

"A team of secret agents?" Hershey questioned, emerald eyes wide. "But why?"

"A guy called Naugus has become king of New Mobotropolis, and we need help taking him down." Silver offered his hand, like he'd seen the director do. "Will you help us?"

"I…" Hershey nearly gave Silver her hand before snatching it away. "I can't…"

"What? Why not!?"

To answer, the cat rolled her sleeves up to her elbows, revealing them both to be shiny, grey and metallic. "You recognise these, right? Cybernetic. If I turn traitor, explosives inside these will detonate, and take me, and maybe even others too."

Silver wouldn't give up. "We have a guy who's good with robotics and stuff, I'm sure he can help you!" 

Hershey turned away. "This whole thing is very courageous of you, but even though I...I'll just stay here sabotaging from within."

"But Eggman isn't our biggest problem right now! And we have Team Fighters to deal with him." Silver sighed. "Naugus has too much power. The other day, some skunk guy, his apprentice I think, was found guilty of treason, but is still walking around, free, and nobody's questioning it, because Naugus is using magic to manipulate everyone!"

Hershey suddenly froze up, becoming dead still at the mention of what had happened.

"I know I'm asking a lot of you, but please!" Silver continued. "I've seen what happens to this timeline if we don't act, and it's really not pretty!" 

Hershey turned back to face Silver, her face now showing hints of a newfound determination. "Ok, I'll join you. But first, I need you to do something for me."

"Ok, what is it?" 

"Rip my arms off."

"What!?"

"Take my cybernetic arms off. The minute they realise I'm gone, they'll explode. But if we leave them here, whilst we escape…"

Silver grinned, catching on to Hershey's plan. "I like the way you think. Let's do it!"

The cat held out her arms, and Silver used his powers to pull them off, careful to be as precise as possible, for fear of accidentally pulling her entire arm off. Both metallic arms fell to the floor with a clatter.

"So, you ready to book it out of here?" Hershey began leading him down the hall at a jogging pace.

"I've got a better idea, once we're out of this base," Silver explained. "We just need to get somewhere where you're sure we won't be seen or followed!"

"Right! Follow me!"

The two sprinted through the base, ignoring any quizzical looks they might've been getting. Silver followed Hershey down into a particularly overgrown cluster of trees and bushes. Silver pulled out a small, golden ring, and threw it forwards, watching as it expanded, and became a portal. The two stepped through, and walked into the cool night air of New Mobotropolis.

"Take off your hood," Silver instructed. "We don't want to be mistaken for legionaries."

Silver led her through the city, which was mercifully quiet at night for once. The hedgehog guessed there was only so much fighting and shouting one could do, before they all got sick of it. 

The hedgehog and cat dropped down into Secret HQ, where the Director was waiting for them.

"Ah, Agent Ace. I trust your mission was a success?" 

"Yes, it was. Director, this is Hershey, Hershey, this is Director Who." Silver introduced the two to each other. 

Harvey went to shake Hershey's hand, who awkwardly held out a floppy sleeve in return.  
"We had to remove my arms to escape," The cat smiled awkwardly. "But it's good to meet you, Director."

"Ah." Who pulled his hand away. "We'll see what we can do for you about that."

The owl turned to Silver.

"Now, why don't you show Hershey to where she'll be sleeping for the time being? You'll be needing some rest, because now that we've got enough recruits…"

"We've got an important mission coming up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, that was a long one, huh?  
> between mobian metal, and the return of hershey (which was originally planned to be a thing in the comics, but ended up getting scrapped), a lot happened in this one!
> 
> also plugging the au's discord again  
> https://discord.gg/d26r5nP  
> (and this link shouldn't expire this time around-)


	7. Anxious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something starts messing with Sonic's head

Sonic stood out front of the city, ready and waiting. He had decided to sneak into the city to get to know his parents and himself a little more. Before he was kicked out of the city he somehow memorised where their home was, though maybe that was also in part due to old memories, subconsciously resurfacing. The robot looked through the entrance of the city from the side to see if anyone was out late at night. Nope, all clear. He ran in, ducking under windows and hiding in thick bushes when someone came past and hiding behind walls. At some points he would have to hide longer than anticipated. Some people like to talk outside late at night don't they? At least for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. He was thankful for not having the ability to sneeze.

After what felt like forever, Sonic made it to his parents house. The lights were on, perfect, they were home. The robian knocked on the door and waited, hearing shuffling and the door opened.

As it did, Sonic felt as if the world slowed down around him. A piercing pain was all he could feel in the middle of his chest and a scream echoing in his ears was all he could hear.

Jules tackled the mobian behind his son, the sword used to hurt him fell to the floor along with pieces of the power gem that had been in his son’s back. Sonic’s knees grew weak, causing him to collapse. His mother caught him before he could hit the ground. 

“Sonic? Sweetie? Can you hear me?” Bernadette frantically grasped her child’s hand. He was gasping for air, heart and lungs failing, oil leaking from his mouth after each gasp. Sonic looked up at his mother with confused and scared eyes, “You’re going to be ok. You hear me? You...you’re going to be ok just keep looking at me sweetie.” She squeezed Sonic's hand tighter, fighting back her tears. By now, the commotion was causing people to come out of their houses. Jules has already yelled for someone to call for the ex-princess and Dr Quack. Someone had rushed off to do so and others restrained the struggling suspect so Jules could go to his son.

Sonic’s eyes began to glitch and flicker, the usually neon greens and reds fading into much duller tones. His breath was starting to slow and his grip was loosening, losing power way too quickly. Both parents were with him, telling him he was going to be ok, that help was coming, but he didn’t feel ok. He felt as if he was dangling off a ledge while hanging on to a piece of string that was breaking apart. He coughed up some oil. His parents’ voices were growing distant. He didn’t feel ready to go. He was scared. But that string gave him no choice. It broke. Before the parents’ very eyes, he took his last breath, his eyes dimmed and his hand fell to the ground. He was gone.

“And you’re sure that’s what’s going to happen?” The director raised a feathered eyebrow, listening to Silver read an entry out of a journal from the future. 

“Positive. This account might not be entirely accurate, as the writer wasn’t at the scene of the crime, but every other account in this journal has proved accurate so far.” Silver confirmed. “And therefore, I’m sure this is the murder that kickstarted the war that would eventually ruin my time. According to this, even though they caught who was thought to be the killer, magic or possession might've been in play.”

“Well in that case, I believe my hypothesis is correct. Sonic the hedgehog is the traitor in the Freedom Fighters, just not by choice. Think about it, this lines up perfectly with your description of the traitor.” The owl continued. “‘Disobeyed orders, started a war.’ Just the events didn’t play out as you thought they would.”

“But...if that was an accident, then why would he be known as ‘the traitor’?” Silver gasped, mouth agape at the idea.

“Silver, you’re a good kid, but you’re also gullible,” the director sighed. “Think about it. These books were written during a period of war, about events that not many people were actually present for, during the reign of a manipulative King without the best intentions. It’s very possible that this whole ‘traitor’ thing was a lie, fed to people as a coverup or justification for the murder.”

Silver stood in silence, everything he thought he knew crumbling in his mind. He felt incredibly stupid, and manipulated, and the fact that his hours upon hours of researching this time could all be full of holes, deceptions and lies was far from a comforting thought. 

"So now, it's your job to stop that murder, as discreetly as possible. Take one of the others with you, and protect that robot at any cost." The director instructed. 

Silver nodded, wondering who to take with him. Hershey didn't have new arms yet, Larry's luck shifting probably wasn't the best for such a crucial mission, so that left the wolf twins and…

"I'll come!" 

Shard. The now completed robot seemed pretty eager to lend a hand.

"I haven't able to do anything so far," the robot complained. "I've just been cooped up in this underground base. So allow me to be the one who helps you!"

Well...Silver had no reason to deny the robot the opportunity, did he?

"Ok, you can come."

"Cool!" the robot fist pumped the air. "You picked the right guy for the job!"

 _'I really hope so,'_ Silver thought.

"So, what's our first course of action? Tracking down the murderer and apprehending them!?" The robot sounded excited at the idea.

"No," Silver shook his head. "The only thing we know about the murderer is that they were a supporter of Naugus that he possessed. We don't know anything about their appearance. However we know where the murder took place, outside Sonic's family's house. So we're going to wait there."

"Awww, what!?" The robot moaned. "That sounds so boring!"

"Well, if you don't like it, then you can stay here," Silver retorted.

"No, I'll still come, for sure," Shard quickly clarified. "It just means that I might not be happy about it."

Silver sighed internally, really, really hoping that once they got onto their mission, Shard was going to take this more seriously. He had to, right? The fate of the entire world was at stake, of course he would!

"Mobius calling Silver?" Shard waved his hand in front of the time traveler's face. "You're zoning out!"

"Oh, sorry!"

"We got a go murder to stop, right? So let's get going!"

The boys ended up situating themselves in a rather squashed, painful, and almost comedically stupid hiding spot. The robot and hedgehog had chosen to cram themselves in a conveniently large bush, with a good view of the house they had to watch. Every twenty minutes or so, Silver felt his eyelids droop a fraction, followed by a hard, sharp prod from Shard. 

As expected, the robot was having difficulty focusing on the task at hand, but oddly, not in the way Silver had anticipated. Shard kept peering into the window of the Hedgehog family's house, and maybe Silver was imagining things, but the robot almost seemed to be showing a sense of longing. But why though? 

Silver didn't want to get too attached to his teammates, knowing that he'd inevitably had to leave them when he returned to his time, but he made a mental note to at least get to know the rest of the Secret Freedom Fighters more. 

Without thinking, Silver decided it was his turn to elbow the robot back into focus, which was a mistake. Silver did his best not to cry out as his elbow collided with Shard's hard, metallic exterior. 

"Wooaaaah," Shard eased, keeping the volume of his voice as low as it would go. "What was that for?" 

"Focus!" Silver hissed. "You keep looking away!"

"Oh, sorry!" Shard quickly apologised. "I just...I dunno...Is it weird for a robot to…"

"To what?"

"Never mind." Shard decided that he didn't want to answer that question, unusually not sounding very energetic for once.

Silver shuffled in the bush, trying to change his position to stop his legs from going numb. Curse that journal for not giving them an overly specific time frame to work with. 

"Silver…" Shard poked the hedgehog on the shoulder, trying to get his attention. "It's almost sunset...are you sure this killer's going to show up?"

"I'm positive!" Silver confirmed. "We just need to wait a little longer!" 

Seconds ticked by. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to an hour, but, as the air was beginning to chill, and the sky was slowly darkening, it happened. Heavy footsteps approached, headed right for the house before them. 

"That's Sonic…" Silver muttered. 

"Right…" Shard nodded. "Be ready to jump any minute now."

A mobian approached the robian from behind, treading lightly. They wore a cloak, but from underneath it, Silver could make out a glimmering, long object kind of like...a blade.

"Shard!" Silver called out, but the robot had already sprung to action, whizzing past Sonic in a black and yellow blur, and tackling the mobian to the ground.

Sonic sounded pretty damn confused, Silver thought, but oh well. There simply wasn't time to explain the situation to the bewildered robian right now.

Silver walked over to the apprehended murder, and stared down at him, glaring and, using his powers, he forced the sword from the mobian's grip. The would-be murderer struggled for a few seconds, before going completely limp. 

"Is he dead?" 

"Nah." Shard squeezed the mobian's wrist. "Just passed out. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say your possession theory might not be all that far fetched."

"How do you know about that?"

"The director isn't the only one who eavesdrops."

By now, Sonic had taken note of the two 'secret' agents, and was staring at them both intensely, eyes flickering back and forth between red and green, unsure of what to think of the two individuals before him. 

"Nothing to see here!" Shard grinned at Sonic. "Just two guys preventing your murder! Which you're welcome for, by the way."

Sonic looked from the passed out mobian to the still hovering sword, eyes settling firmly on red. His mind whirled with hundreds of questions, but he didn't ask. He couldn't find any immediate strong feelings towards either of these two, but he felt as though he did know them, but not as friends. There was a faint, bitter feeling, gnawing at the back of his mind, but for the life of him he couldn't understand why.

Still, with no good reason to be hostile to the pair, the very puzzled robian left them alone, accepting that his life had officially descended into pure madness at this point.

____________________________________

The journal Silver had brought from the future was a puzzling item, that was for sure. A very clear example of this was that the author was apparently none other than Antoine D'coolette, who was currently in a coma. Though perhaps, Harvey thought to himself, that could be taken as a sign of hope, an indicator that the coyote would recover from his state.

The director sat in Freedom HQ, scanning the pages for anything more that could be of use to them right now. He was amazed by the book's condition, surprisingly good for coming from an apocalyptic future, 200 years from now. There were definitely some gaps where pages should have been, and other pages had become so tattered that if even dared touch them, they would probably fall apart, but still, it could've been a lot worse.

What was currently intriguing the director, was the stories of what happened after the murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. Riots, outrage, the Chaotix taking roles as detectives and investigating the crime, the remnants of the Dark legion's disastrous attempts to break away from Eggman, many, many deaths, and a particularly heartbreaking account of the return Bunnie Rabbot, who despite her Uncle's supposed best efforts had become nothing more than a brainwashed legionnaire.

A lot of this was slightly meaningless to Harvey, as the murder's prevention would no doubt disrupt these events, but there was one page that caught his eye specifically. The page was barely complete, most of it illegible, but a single line stood out. 

'I was told that after Sonic died, the rogue nanit-'

The rest of the line was gone, but there was no doubt in Harvey's mind that the next word should've been 'nanites'. Rogue nanites. 

That might need keeping an eye on.

____________________________________

Sonic had walked in the front door, but he hadn't seen his family yet. There was this strange feeling of apprehension, something telling him to wait, almost like an instructor in his mind. At first, Sonic ignored the voice, what good reason did he have to listen? But as he neared the living room, he started to comply.

From within the room, came the sounds of raised voices. Sonic lingered outside, feeling though it would probably be awkward if he walked in.

"It's not your fault, and I'm tired of watching you blame yourself for it!" That was unmistakably his father. Sonic listened closely. "Was it your intention for any of this to happen? No."

Sonic continued to listen, but he was slightly distracted. There was a strange, very faint high pitched noise ringing in his ears now, and it was rather annoying.

"Regardless of intention, I still created the machine that t̸̉u̶rṅ̸̔͗̕e̴d y̵̐̏ǒ̴ű̶ ̴͑̈́̀bo̵̬̍͆͒t̸͌́̕h in̷̍̍̾̽̽̌̉̕t̷̋̎̚͝o fr̶̂̕ė̸͔͉͑̕ak̷̉s” Sonic’s ears perked up. His Uncle… thought they were freaks? No that couldn't be right, could it? He kept listening, feeling his heart beat rapidly in his chest. 

"But you weren't the one who modified it to enslave people, that was Eggman!" the back and forth in the living room continued. "You weren't hoping for what happened to me to happen that day, were you? À̴nd̶̈́̏̾̊ ̸̡̦̚͝S̷̲̖͑̓̔̄̃o̶̓n̷̉͐̄̉ic'̶s̵̓̓̓̃ a ̵da̵͙̬͂̔m̶͌̒n̷̎̈́ fǫ̷͚̑̊o̶̓̉l. I̸͊t'̸͝͠s h̵̖͘i̵̛̐̅s ̶̈́̿̄̋́o̸ẅ̶̂̽n̵̽̄ fȁ̸ul̸t ĥ̴e ̵̛̘̭̦̪̥̄̌̇go̵̎̉̄͂t̸̽̅́ sẗ̴́̓̍ű̴c̸̛̽k̴̄ lik̸̄̀́͝e ̴̧̦͉͒͑͋͝th̶̛͝at,Ȉ̴'̸͗m̸͝ s̴u̴r̶̋͛e̴̓. D̶̒͒i̶͛d̴̈͂ ̶̭̪̀̾͊̚th̸́̇̈́̃a̵̐̐t̴ en̶̅gi̴̋͗̔̾nė̶̛̈̓̉ ̷̗̭̅͋͗̇̇ro̷o̸̔m se̵r̴̎i̵͑͐͐o̴͒̇ủ̶̡̨̫̪s̶̎ly hȁ̸̜ve̸̓ n̵̛o ex̷͔͝it at̷̉̽ a̵͋̎ll?"

Sonic grew increasingly more panicked and upset. Surely his ears must be betraying him? He couldn't believe it. 

"Yes, but I still made an oversight. Robots, what was I thinking? I can't imagine he's happy like that,c̵l̴̛̽̊ũ̸n̴̒k̷ȳ̸̋, c̵̛̈́̄l̵̛͋u̷̒m̷̛s̸̚͘y̶ a̷̒n̶̍͘d k̴i̵n̸d of̷ us̸͋el̸̔e̶͛͗s̶̊̌ŝ̸͉, and you're still probably not...:"

"I've...I've accepted it now...and Sonic d̴̂o̴esn'̴̳̝͗t ̷͓͎͝ha̶v̸e en̶o̷ug̸̃̆͠h of̶ h̶is br̷͆aḭ̸̥̏n ĺ̴ef̶́t ̵͒̉̃to̷̞̐̇̊͘͝ re̶m̴̧͚̜̖̜͛̚e̵m̶͋̕b̷́e̷r̴̾ an̴̏̓y̷ẗ̴̛́hi̸n̸͘͝g̷͠ el̷͗se, ̵̐̅́̓̉̊̾͊̽͝so h̴e'̸́s pr̶͝oba̴bl̶y fi̸͊͋n̴e̸͑."

The high pitched ringing was getting consistently worse, and Sonic was feeling more and more shocked by the second, but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to move. His feet were firmly planted on the floor, and not about to go anywhere.

"Accepted it? Y̷o̴u m̵ean̸̓̔ th̷͑̿e̴͗̔̑ ̴̂̾̔̿̅͆̕fac̴̿t ̶̲̳̣̩̅̋t̵͎͋h̴a̵̛t̵̓ y̷͋͝ou̶'r̷̾̈̃ễ̷̐ n̵͘o lö̶́̓̏̔̽ng̶̍̓er a̷͛̊n̷͐y̸thin̸͋̆̓g̸ b̸̜͒ut̶ c̶i̸r̵c̴̓u̴i̶t̸́s̶̍̓̊̎̏ a̷̛̽n̷͗̓d̷̮͋͛͝ w̴i̵re̴̒s, your en̶̽tir̵e̴͠ be̷̯̋in̸̆g iṡ̵̏ ē̸̆̌͠a̴͐sỉ̶̉̓̕l̴̓̆y̶ d̷͗el̵ẽ̶t̸͒͗ab̵͒̕le̴̾̚ ã̵nd̶ t̴ha̶͗ť̷ ̵̌if̸ I̷̓̉ w̵̽ań̴̎̃̅t̴̒e̷d̴ t̷o I cȯ̵̎̄͝ul̷ḋ̸̕ r̵͂̏̚e̴͗̍͘p̴̈́͛r̸͝o̷gr̵͐ã̴͘m̴̒ y̷o̸̐u̴͑ o̸͂n t̴͋he̷ s̷̋po̸t?"

For a good ten seconds or so, Sonic was genuinely considering the idea that he was having some kind of dream or nightmare. Obviously, he was a robot, but was it possible he'd somehow slipped into one? Nothing either of these two were saying lined up with what he'd known from them in the past few days, nor did it fit with what little memories he had from before being roboticized.

But then...how did he escape from whatever this was? The high pitched noise was becoming obnoxious now, and a large part of Sonic was telling him to rip his ears off. But...if he did that...he'd need some kind of tool or weapon…

Without warning, Sonic's arm changed shape, thickening, widening, losing a hand in favour of a deep black hole. A cannon..  
_"Go on,"_ a malicious voice inside his head whispered. _"Blow your own ears off then."_

No, no, no, no, no.

Sonic stumbled backwards, making sure sure to point his now weaponised appendage downwards, away from his ears, and him in general. He fell over with a clatter, and lay on the floor, wondering what the hell was wrong with him.

In the other room, the two brothers stopped their conversation, and both went to see what had caused the noise. Sonic lay, the pitch and volume of that ear grating sound somehow still managing to get worse. 

"Argh!" Jules cried as they approached Sonic. The robian covered his ears instinctively, but it was futile.

"What's wrong?" Charles turned to face his brother, confused.

"Sonic's emitting some kind of noise…?" Jules groaned. "It's really unpleasant."

"How unpleasant?"

"'Please unscrew my audio receptors' unpleasant."

Charles frowned, and kept approaching Sonic, who tried to back away, but between the wall and him still forcibly holding the cannon down with his other arm, it wasn't exactly working.

The robian was officially beyond confused. He had presumed the noise he was hearing was in his head, but apparently it was playing out loud? And he was the one making it do so? 

His heart felt like it was fighting to burst out of his chest, and Sonic let out a horrific screech as he felt an all too familiar sensation sweeping through his body, locking up his limbs. His tense, upright position collapsed as his body forced itself into that same, limp, paralysed state as before.

The high pitched sound finally ended, leaving everyone in a dreadful silence for a good while.

"I-Is he…" 

"No." Charles wouldn't let his brother finish. "Nicole told me about something like this. He should be fine in a few hours." 

"What was with his arm though? You definitely saw that, right? It...changed." Jules gestured to the arm, now back to its usual state.

"I don't know," Charles sighed. "It's possible the newer roboticizer was modified to make more weaponised robians."

"How come nobody's found out about it until now then?"

"I don't have all the answers, Jules," Charles knelt down beside the paralysed robian, not quite passed out yet. Faded green eyes watched their Uncle's every move, as he surveyed his nephew. 

There were whispers running through Sonic's mind, and for the first time, he realised that he might not be alone up there, a quite literally petrifying thought. He could hear the voices, all scrambling to hide from their observer, and a particularly nasty image popped into his head of tiny insects crawling through circuits and wires, all scuttling around, trying to hide.

And through listening to these whispers Sonic learned the name of what these things were. Sonic tried to tell Charles what he'd learned, but there was something stopping him, and it wasn't the paralysis. 

He wasn't allowed to say.

They were stopping him from saying. They had the power to do that. Sonic felt fear race through him. He had to purge these things from his system, but how?

The world was beginning to fade into dully colored blurs. 

Sonic's eyes turned to black.

_____________________________________  
Doctor Quack was not used to going to people, usually people came to him. So when he was called to the Hedgehog family's house, he knew something was up. Though given the family's track record, particularly Sonic, something dire or confusing going down was hardly new.

"I appreciate you for responding so quickly, Quack." Charles said with great gratitude towards Dr. Quack.

He showed the duck Sonic, propped up on the sofa, unmoving, a cable shoved into his back.

"So, care to explain why you've brought me to a robot, who's supposed to be exiled, to me?" the doctor sighed, looking towards the unconscious bot on the couch. 

"Because he also has organic parts inside. Lungs and heart."

Quack's beak dropped open.

"And it's taken you this long to tell me about this!?" The duck exclaimed.

"Well, we thought we had it covered…" Charles admitted.

"We?"

"Me, Tails, and Rotor."

"Mechanics." the doctor buried his head in his hands. "Nobody thought to get anyone with medical knowledge when you discovered still functional organs."

"It...It was a spur of the moment kind of thing."

"Well, since nobody else seems to have the common sense to, I'll take a look at Sonic. Maybe we can see what's wrong with him."


	8. Purpose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Secret Freedom Fighters go on a mission, whilst Sonic gets closer to finding his memories

The results were in, and they were...strange. So, as it turned out, the organs and the rest of Sonic's mechanical body had a codependent relationship. Breathing, and keeping his heart beating was what powered the mechanical parts, and in turn, the inside of the robot had developed ways to keep the vulnerable organs safe.

If his heart beat too fast, as it'd been doing previously, it would generate too much power for his body to handle, and without anywhere for the excess to go, Sonic would essentially end up shocking himself with it, overloading his systems, and sending himself into a shut down state.

This was evidently a problem, as from years of trying to figure the blue blur out, Dr. Quack had at the very least determined that the hedgehog's heart naturally beat rather fast. Thankfully, in his robian state, it had slowed down to something his body found manageable, but it wasn't perfect. 

Sonic had decided to stay in New Mobotropolis for the evening. A risky move, for sure, but Sonic didn't mind. He wasn't about to let a load of angry idiots drive him out of his home. He'd been asked about his freak out earlier a good few times by now, but those things still wouldn't let him tell anyone about them, no matter how hard he tried and wanted to. 

He wasn't even allowed to say that he couldn't tell them what was wrong, and so in the end, the general assumption had been that Sonic simply didn't want to talk about it.

"You know, if you ever do want to talk about it, we'll be right here, ok?" His mother had told him.

 _'I know, Mum.'_ Sonic had replied silently in his head. _'I wish I could.'_

After everyone decided to set the mystery of the strange happenings that went down earlier aside, they decided to try an idea that had been had a while ago; using photos and the like to see if that would help retrieve Sonic's missing memories. Jules and Bernette went to go and retrieve a photo album, while Sonic sat at the kitchen table. Charles joined his nephew a little bit later after seeing Dr Quack off, looking a bit redder in the muzzle due to more loud quipes from the doctor at the three’s poor choice of locale and examination of Sonic.

It was at this point that Sonic learned of two other occupants of the house as they were finally released from a room they were occupying, a mechanical looking chao, and a dog. At the sight of Sonic, the dog instantly bounded towards him, barking excitedly. Sonic got out of his seat, and knelt down, and pet the dog, rubbing his head. He couldn't feel the animal's soft fur, as he was sure he once would've been able to, but seeing the dog happily wagging his tail was satisfying enough.

"Found it!" Bernadette reentered the room, clutching a thick photo album Jules following behind her.

Sonic tilted his head, _“What’s that?”_

"A photo album. It's got pictures of us." Jules explained. “And I see Muttski knows who you are still.” 

Jules chuckled as Muttski turned to give Jules an offended look and chuff before begging for more scratches from the newer robian. Sonic resumed giving the dog scratches and looked to Jules, _"What kind of pictures?"_

"Whatever ones we took, really." Jules flicked through the beginning pages. "If we had a good photo, we put it in here."

Sonic nodded, and leaned over, trying to catch a glance of some of these photos in question. Noticing this, Bernadette turned the book around, letting Sonic see the pictures more clearly.

"These are from right after you were born," she informed. "You wouldn't really remember any of this."

Sonic was more interested in just looking at the pictures than remembering right now. He stared at the tiny, blue hedgehog, asleep in most pictures and practically bald, lacking any real spines at this stage in life. It was an oddly surreal sight to Sonic, finding it hard to imagine himself ever having been so small.

Another few pages were turned, "Hey, look," Bernie pointed. "That's when we adopted Muttski!"

There were a couple of pictures of the puppy, who appeared very wide eyed and excitable in all of them. There was also a photo of who Sonic could only assume was Jules, before being roboticized, lying on the sofa, a still tiny, but maybe a little bit older Sonic lying on his chest, and Muttski lying by his side, all three of them asleep.

There was a caption underneath that read 'long day' but that wasn't what grabbed Sonic's attention. No, it was the location. He knew this house! Faintly, but some images raced through his mind. A flower filled garden. The coolest bedroom a kid could ask for. He had a strong feeling he'd done a lot of growing up there, but he knew he'd had to move away. Why he had to move was still a mystery to him though.

Another page got turned, and Sonic quickly noticed a difference. Jules vanished. There were less photos in general too, and both Bernadette and Charles looked...tired. When they were in photos that was, which they weren't very often. Sonic was older now, maybe three or four. His six distinctive head spines were beginning to take shape. 

_"Where were you?"_ Sonic asked Jules. _"I presume you weren't just holding the camera the entire time."_

"Where was I? Well, by now, I would've been roboticized…" 

_"That doesn't stop you from being in pictures, does it?"_

"Ah." Sonic didn't know, did he? “Well, when Eggman roboticizes someone, he intended for them to have no free will. His aim is to strip them of it. So, I wasn't really...myself, for quite a few years after that."

Sonic nodded, recalling Sally mentioning something similar to him a little while back. He shuddered internally, wondering what might’ve become of him, if Eggman had found him in the wreckage of the Death Egg II instead of the Freedom Fighters.  
____________________________________

"How're your new arms feeling, Seven?" The code names felt strange to use, but Elias knew it was necessary.

"Pretty good, thanks King." The black cat replied, flexing her fingers.

"Hey!" Lyco whispered loudly to her two teammates. “Focus! We can’t afford to mess this up!”

“Right. Sorry.” Elias took a deep breath through his mask. His first mission with the Secret Freedom Fighters and he had already messed something up, great. The last thing he needed was to make a poor show for his team, and have them doubt him. 

“Guys,” Leeta pointed at the giant hole in the ground left by the Battle Birds, the location of their mission. “Naugus just went in.”

“Wingsuits at the ready then,” Elias instructed. “When the coast is clear we’ll dive in.”

Everyone nodded, though Leeta looked uneasy. Noticing this, Lyco placed a hand on her twin sister’s shoulder. 

“Just don’t think about the height, ok? Imagine you’re not dropping into a Chaos only knows how deep pi-”

“Not helping, Lyco!” the pink wolf snapped quietly at her twin. “Listen, I’ll be fine. But just because I have to jump in there doesn’t mean I’m going to be happy about it.”

“I don’t think any of us are particularly thrilled about it,” Elias muttered through gritted teeth. 

“The coast’s clear, King.” Hershey hissed.

“Ok. Let’s go!”

The team of four dashed out from their hiding place, and leapt into the gaping hole, spreading their arms, and activating their wingsuits, making the descent slower and safer, but not much easier. Elias had failed to estimate just how deep this thing went, and felt a twinge of sympathy for the acrophobic wolf falling next to him, her eyes squeezed shut, muttering something about how she hated heights over and over again. 

“There!” Elias pointed to a large hole in the side of the pit’s walls, too rounded to have been made naturally. The team glided towards it, but just as they neared it, Elias spotted a silhouette in the dark tunnel. He nearly called out to warn the others, before realising that his voice could alert the figure of their presence. Wordlessly, the squirrel landed on a tiny ledge, and pressed his body to the wall, hoping all the others would follow his lead.Thankfully, the others got the message, and followed his example, making themselves as small and hidden as possible. 

The figure whipped around, and two piercing eyes scanned the tunnel. Elias could hear his heart racing, the only sound in the otherwise deafening silence. Hershey held her breath, not daring to make a noise, and Lyco and Leeta stood as still as statues.

“Hmm…” Naugus stroked his chin, his crooked face twisted into a frown. “The speedster and lynx are still in exile, the coyote’s in a coma, the rabbit ran off, the walrus couldn’t be this stealthy, the princess is usually in the hospital at these hours, and the little kids wouldn’t dare follow me in here...so...Gah! It must’ve been the wind! I’m wasting time....” 

All four mobians got ready to release a sigh of relief. Seemed like Naugus was going to leave them alone.

“Unless…” the wizard continued. “It was one of you...Never able to give me a moment's peace, are you?” 

Naugus turned around and continued down the tunnel, mumbling to himself as he walked. The Secret Freedom Fighters collectively let out that sigh of relief, glad that the wizard had moved on. 

“We can’t get too relaxed,” Lyco whispered harshly. “He definitely knows we’re here.”

“He concluded it was ‘just the wind’” Elias protested. “We’re good for now. You’re just getting paranoid for no good reason.”

“Then who was he talking to at the end there?” Lyco questioned. “He knows someone’s here!” 

“But if he knew we were here, how come he didn’t stop us?” Leeta pondered.

“Exactly!” Elias agreed. “Cut all this stupid gossip, and lets get on with the mission!”

“Guys!” Hershey broke the debate up. “It doesn’t matter if he knows or not, we need to get a move on!”

“Fair enough.” Lyco stood down. She turned to see that the way they came in now appeared to be gone. The wolf pressed a paw to where their way in had once been, finding that it had been turned completely to stone.

Leeta peered over her twin’s shoulder, examining the rock face too. “It’s just like the director warned us…” 

“Yep. Ok, rookie, you take this and make sure we’ve got a way out, whilst we go see what the old wizard’s up to,” Lyco shoved an explosive into Elias’ arm and made to leave.

“Rookie?” Elias hissed in outrage. “I’m leading this team!”

“And how long have you been doing secret agent stuff, hmm?” Lyco whirled around, looking back at him. “If you’re going to tell me, someone who’s been doing this longer than you have, for your kingdom, how to do my job, then I’ll tell you how to do yours.” 

She ran off, and joined her twin, who was already sneaking further down the tunnel. Elias glanced to Hershey, hoping she might tell him to come anyway.

“Don’t take it too hard Elias,” Came her response. “Making sure we don’t all suffocate and starve here is still a pretty important job.”

____________________________________________________________________________

There was a notable gap in the photos now. After maybe one or two pictures of a five year old Sonic with his uncle, the next photo immediately jumped to a teenaged Sonic, with his family...all robians except for him. A torrent of emotions raced through his mind.

Happiness, that quickly faded into a feeling of betrayal. Tension, an apology, awkwardness, that gently turned back to the feeling of happiness. He saw images race through his mind, tiny snippets of his old life, before they were gone. Dammit! It felt like his memories were trying to rush towards him, ready to be part of him once more, but every time they got close, something pulled them back. He was remembering new things every day, which was good, but the things he was remembering were so small that the robian couldn’t help but feel like he’d made no progress. 

“Would you like an explanation for the gap?” Bernadette asked, seeing Sonic’s blank expression.

Sonic nodded in confirmation. Yes, an explanation would be good.

“Alright well, then,” the purple hedgehog took a deep breath. “After Your father got roboticized, Eggman realised that robots with no free will were pretty useful assets for his world take over plan. He roboticized nearly everyone, built an army of slaves. We only got changed back when a race of aliens did so."

Sonic listened carefully. His brain felt like it might explode, because Chaos, that was a lot to take in. Muttski hopped up onto the table, and looked at the picture, eyeing his roboticized self in the bottom left corner specifically. 

"We all looked pretty scary, huh?"

Sonic’s pupils widened in shock. That definitely wasn’t any of his family members, he knew that much, so by that logic, the only one that could’ve said anything was…

 _“You can talk!?”_ Sonic asked Muttski, flabbergasted. 

“What, did you think I was mute?” 

“I’d say that’s confirmation that the universal translator still works then,” Charles chuckled, taking a guess at what the interaction he was witnessing was.

_"The universal what now?"_

"You were given it by some aliens, to help understand them. Or at least, that's what you told us." Jules shrugged. "Nobody else was there."

Sonic nodded. This sounded familiar to him, as it probably should, considering it was something he'd done. Without warning, a memory seeped through the cracks, a memory very much ingrained in his mind, the day he returned from space.

He'd been happy. Super happy. And yet, it had ended in tears, and not just for him. 

No matter how small the bits of memory he was getting back were, remembering things did give him hope. After all, if he could remember some things, then eventually he'd be able to get all his memories back, right? 

____________________________________________

"Woah…" Silver stood, breathless, taking in the room around him. This...hadn't been in their mission description. He, Shard and Larry had simply been sent to follow Naugus' apprentice, Geoffrey, but what they'd found by getting distracted and falling into a suspicious, trap filled cavern seemed a lot more interesting.

This place was eerie, with large statues of what looked to be mobians in hoods, their stoney eyes feeling like they were burrowing their way into the secret agents' souls. A strange text, a language lost to time, was scrawled everywhere, on walls and pillars, even some on the ceiling.

"I wonder what it says…" Larry observed the writing curiously. 

"Wonder no more!" Shard joined the lynx by a pillar covered in text, and began searching through data banks and the like, until he found a match. "Ok, let's see here. 'This is the crypt of Ixis Vale, one of Ixis Mogul's elite four.' That's what it says."

"Ixis...Mogul…?" Silver glanced at Shard. "Are you sure you've got that right?" 

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." Shard replied. "Why do you ask?" 

Silver stared at his boots for a moment, remembering what the director told him about things perhaps not being what they seemed, and him being gullible.

"No reason."

Silver was going to need to have a long chat with a certain person when he returned to his time.

“Hang on a minute…” Larry tapped on Shard’s shoulder plate. “If this is a crypt, then where are all the remains? All I see are those statues…”

“Good point.” Shard pulled down the visor he used to scan and examine things, observing the room. “You’re right, no remains anywhere…” The robot pointed his head down towards the floor. “But there’s footprints! Fresh footprints! And there’s only one pair of creeps who’d want remains like these!” 

“St. John!!” Silver and Larry cried in near perfect unison. Shard shot off like a rocket, already in pursuit of the skunk.

“Shard, wait up!” Silver yelled, but the robot was beyond the point of stopping. Silver groaned, following Shard, but unable to keep up with the headstrong robot’s speed.

This might not end well.

___________________________________________________________

Charles returned from taking a phone call, sighing.

“You ok?” Bernadette asked. “Who was it?”

“The council." Charles replied. "Just saying they need me to sort some things tomorrow morning."

Sonic wasn't paying attention to the conversation. He was now fully engrossed in the pictures, desperately trying to reclaim his lost memories. It was a painful cycle. Often, he'd see an image, and he'd remember things about it, what happened before and after, who took the picture, and so on, before all those memories would be clawed away from him, leaving him unable to recall what he'd just learnt.

He squeezed his fist shut, unbelievably annoyed. It was even clearer than before that he should be able to remember everything, but there was something stopping him. Not the same thing as those malicious whispers that had invaded him though, no, this had been in his systems from the start, he at least knew that much.

Without warning, the world suddenly disintegrated, everything turning green. Sonic found himself unable to move, and only able to look straight forwards, as though what was happening in front of him was a film, and he was in a cinema. 

If what he was seeing was a film, it'd definitely be a horror. He, or rather, his pre roboticized self, who he'd come to recognise as such, was tied up in a large mass of black, rubbery cords and wires, wrapped around him like tentacles. He wanted to help him, to free him, to do something! But he couldn’t move or call out. Every so often, his pre robot self would break free of the wires, and try to run to him, but they'd always drag him back, never letting the organic hedgehog come to the robian one. 

The walls of this place were red, and the walls and floors were covered in darker red lines, giving the illusion that this place was covered in tiles. Just as his organic self tried to run to Sonic, a thought occurred to him. Hadn't he been here before? The organic Sonic kept running forwards, but Sonic was too distracted to care. This was the digital world...right? You could view the insides of computers and machines here, couldn't you? Wait...did that mean that he was literally viewing something happening inside him right now…?

With a synthesised gasp, Sonic snapped back into the real world, suddenly filled with a new sense of determination. 

___________________________________________

Elias slumped against the rock wall, wondering what to do.  
_"Great"_ he thought to himself. _"First day on the job and you've already argued with your teammates."_

He lazily poked the explosive device secured to the wall behind him in a half hearted attempt to check everything was still in order.

 _"Can I really blame them for lecturing me?"_ Elias wondered. _"I did kind of snap at Lyco over nothing…"_ The squirrel ran a hand through his hair. _"Not to mention I made a terrible first impression yesterday, judging the Director's choice of agents right out the gate."_

He recalled the moments he'd finally joined with his new team in Secret HQ with a twinge of guilt, his questioning of Harvey still ringing in his mind. And he'd had them audacity to do it in front of them all too. No wonder things were tense.

_"I wonder how I can make it up to them...maybe if I…"_

The squirrel's ears pricked. He heard screaming. Elias was immediately snapped out of his thoughts, and leapt into action, sprinting down the tunnel his teammates had gone through. Without warning, a jet of flame shot through the tunnel in front of him, burning a long passageway in a wall. Peering down the tunnel, he realised that there were many tunnels, just like the one he'd just seen be made.

"He's creating a maze to trap us…" Elias muttered, picking up his pace. He needed to find his teammates before the place collapsed. 

"King!"

Elias spun around to see Hershey running in his direction. 

"Seven! Where are the Queens?" 

"Naugus created three separate tunnels," Hershey staggered to a halt in front of Elias. "Looks like I took the right one first...the twins should be coming any second now…"

"Let's hope they are…" Elias stood, watching the tunnel that Hershey came from, the apprehension of waiting killed him. 

Ten, long, drawn out seconds passed before-

"RUN!!" 

The twins burst out of the tunnel, but they weren't alone. Right on their tails was a monstrous, distorted version of Naugus, cackling maniacally, as a fiery, oversized limb made an attempt to snatch Leeta. 

"Come on!!" Elias shouted over the wizard's crazed fury. "I'll lead us out!"

______________________________________

"Sonic?" Bernadette waved her arm in front of Sonic's face, trying to get his attention. "You're zoning out…"

At that moment, Sonic snapped back into reality, eyes wide and green, moving from his position leaned over the table to sitting upright in his chair with such a force that he nearly sent said chair toppling backwards. 

_"I know what I need to do now!"_ the robian exclaimed. _"I just don't know how to do it! But that's ok, because other people were with me when I was there in the past, so I just need to ask them!"_

"Woah, woah, woah…" Jules cut through Sonic's ramble. "Slow down there Sonic, you're not making a lick of sense."

Sonic tapped the side of his head, _“I need to go to the digital world to get my memories back. I don’t know how to do it on my own but I remember going there with someone before to do something. But I can’t remember who!”,_

"Well...you were probably with one of the other Freedom Fighters, right? You should talk to them in the morning." Bernadette suggested, after being given a rough translation. 

_"Aww, what!?"_ Sonic complained, voice filled with immeasurable disappointment. _"Why morning!?"_

"Because some people are probably getting tired by now," Jules pointed out. 

Sonic let out a noise close to a sigh, knowing that they were probably right. Even if his friends were awake, they’d likely be too tired to help him journey into the digital world, and it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to take people in need of sleep on an important mission. Going a few more hours with incomplete data banks wouldn’t kill him. He’d go and talk to his friends in the morning about it, and see what could be done. 

It was strange, in spite of how grim the scenario the robian had witnessed had been, he couldn’t help but feel excited at the idea of setting off on this adventure. 

________________________________________________________________________

Shard sped through the trap filled tunnels that surrounded the mysterious crypt, ignoring anything Silver had to say. 

“Dang it, Shard,” Silver muttered. “Well if he gets caught in this, I guess it’s his own fault…”

“Wait what!? What’re you going to do?” Larry came to a halt next to Silver, who’d also stopped running.

“Watch.”

The hedgehog focused his sight intensely on the spot where he could just about still see St. John escaping, a bag slung over one shoulder, Shard still right on his tail. He focused all his energy into that one spot and....

“Got him!” Silver grinned as he caught the skunk suspended in mid-air, held in place by the time traveller’s physic energy, unable to go anywhere.

“Hey Silver…” Larry rapidly tapped the hedgehog’s shoulder, noticing something his teammate hadn’t. “He isn’t supposed to be smoking...right?” 

Silver glanced over at where the skunk should’ve been, but he was no longer trapped within the field of psychic energy. Instead, a big blob of shadowy smoke in front of it was reshaping itself into the form of a slightly sick looking Geoffrey. The skunk stumbled a little, before breaking out into a run, continuing his escape. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot the part where we were dealing with people who could use magic,” Shard commented, before reengaging in the chase. Noticing this, Geoffrey grabbed an unidentifiable object, and fired it at Shard.

“That’s an explosi-” Larry didn’t get the chance to finish, as dynamite went off with a bang, and the roof of the underground tunnel began to crumble, sending a torrent of rocks plummeting downwards, crushing Shard. Silver thought fast, using his powers to suspend the rest of the falling debris, and remove what had fallen off of Shard. The robot crawled towards his teammates, revealing himself to have been quite bashed up, his cannon arm deformed, and one ‘eye’ only appearing as a mess of pixels. 

“Are you alright?” Larry asked Shard, concerned. 

“Who’s alright? Me? Yeah, I’m totally alright, I love being buried alive, yes I do!” Shard spoke quickly, before composing himself. “My auto-repair is kicking in, I’ll be alright in a minute.” 

“Th-that’s good, because I don’t k-know how long I can hold this-” Silver grunted, sounding incredibly strained. 

Shard glanced down at his reforming body. Still pretty battered, but it looked good enough, “If I dig us a way out, would that put too much strain on you, or would you be good?”

“Go f-f-for it.”

After verifying that it would be ok to do so, Shard curled his body up into a spiky black and yellow ball, and began digging, heading nearly straight upwards, making the path towards the surface as direct as possible. After a painfully stressful three minutes, the three boys’ heads burst out of the side of a cliff face, Silver and Larry gasping for breath, panting loudly. 

“Geoffery’s getting away!” Shard pointed into the distance desperately. “We can still catch up with him!” 

“N-Not necessarily…” Silver managed to gasp out. “In c-c-case you haven’t noticed, w-we’re exhausted…”

“Ok then, well I’ll go after that skunk, and you guys can stay here and-” as if on cue, Shard’s engine spluttered loudly, its power running out. “Or, we can all take a rest, I suppose…” Shard joined his teammates, sitting next to them on the edge of the tunnel. He pressed his power gem in, and it turned from red to green, along with his eyes. “Man, it sucks that Geoffery got away…” The robot stared at the ground below them, the skunk long gone. “But, I guess it could be worse. Getting buried alive is a pretty horrible way to go, trust me.”

“You’ve mentioned that a few times now…” Larry commented. “What happened to you?”

“I…” Shard hesitated, green eyes flickering slightly. “It involved a volcano. That’s all you’ll get out of me.” 

“It's ok if you don’t want to talk about it right now,” Larry assured. “Given that we’re on a mission and stuff. But if you ever want to…” 

“Heh. Thanks Joker.” Shard smiled at the lynx. “You’re a good friend. But...I don’t think you’d like me as much if I told you everything I did when I was Met-” The robot cut himself off. “Anyway, yeah, it sucks that Geoffery got away.”

“Well, at least we got that tracker on his airboard,” Silver sighed, his head throbbing from the serious strain on his psychic powers, after trying to restrain Geoffrey, and suspending a crumbling mountain for a good three minutes.

“Yeah! That’ll make it easier to track him later!” Larry agreed.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Silver snatched Larry’s arm, noticing something. It was hard to see through the mostly dark material of his suit, but the yellow parts were stained dark red. 

“Oh, that!” Larry grinned awkwardly. “A rock dropped on me whilst Shard was tunneling. N-Not your fault of course, just one of my jynxes! It’s not too bad!”  
Not believing what Larry said, Silver rolled the lynx’s sleeve up, revealing a deep cut across the lynx’s arm. 

“Not too bad huh?” Silver muttered. “Honestly, it's a miracle you managed to hide this for so long. I wouldn’t have even been able to tell, you’ve been acting like nothing had happened.”

“When bad stuff happens to you a lot, you develop a tolerance to pain,” Larry shrugged. “That, and the adrenaline.” 

“I think that’s a good enough sign to head back to base, and get you two patched up then.” Shard concluded. 

“The director’s going to be so mad…” Larry murmured. 

“We’re not dead, and we got a tracker on Geoffery,” Shard deflected Larry’s doubts. “If that’s not good enough, then that’s his problem, not ours.”

_______________________________________________________________________

“This was,” Elias shouted. “I marked the way to the exit on the way out!” 

His three teammates followed, running for their lives. The cavernous tunnels seemed so much longer now than they did on the way in, though whether that was actually the case, or if it was just their perilous situation making them feel longer was anyone’s guess. None of them dared look back, but they could feel the heat of his blazing, fiery, corrupted form as they ran, indicating just how close the dastardly king was to catching them. His maddened laughter echoed through the underground maze, bouncing off the walls and giving it a horrible, booming quality.

Elias could feel his hand shaking as he slammed his finger down on the trigger for the explosive, blowing a hole in the side of the great pit. Everyone got their wing suits at the ready, and jumped out of the blown out gap, descending to the bottom at a safe pace. Even Leeta, with her strong fear of heights, had no complaints as they dropped down, everyone just grateful to be away from Naugus.

The team of four tumbled onto the dusty ground at the bottom of the pit, silent, aside from their rapid breathing. Hershey was standing up, running her hands through her fur, the twins were crouched down, and Elias was sitting, leaning back, and shaking slightly. Eventually, Lyco stood up, and did a lap around the bottom of the pit, studying the walls with an intense, focused gaze. "We're trapped down here." The wolf remarked bluntly. Elias expected another comment, perhaps something about how this should've been thought through more, but it never came.

"Surely not…" Hershey stood up, and followed Lyco's footsteps. The cat made several attempts and grabbing at ledges, trying to haul herself up, but couldn't get any further than about six feet. Elias was just thankful that the cat always managed to land on her feet. "There's really nothing to grab onto...it's completely smooth…" The cat braces herself and drops into the bottom of the crater for the twelfth or thirteenth time.

"And even then," Lyco pointed to the few handholds Hershey had managed to find. "I'd probably cut my fingers to shreds on some of those ledges…" 

"So we're really stuck down here?" Lyco asked, unable to believe it. "Hard to believe the Director didn't think this through…" She scowled, staring at the sky, so far out of reach, as her twin studied a weird scrap of paper that looked as if it had been tossed in the whole.

"Regardless if he thought of this when he sent us or not, he won't let us rot down here," Elias reassured. "He wouldn't give up on this team that easily."

"I hope you're right." Lyco sighed, and came and sat with Leeta and Elias. "Sorry for snapping at you earlier," The wolf apologised. "It's not really a good excuse, but I guess you could say the pressure was getting to me."

"It's alright," Elias forced himself to make eye contact, wanting to show that he was being genuine. "I'm sorry for saying you were paranoid when you were just looking out for the team. And I'm sorry for doubting all of you when I was first introduced to the team. I had no right to do that, I see that now."

"It's alright, Elias." Hershey joined the rest of the team. "I can't exactly blame you for looking at me like you'd seen a ghost."

"Hey!" A voice echoed down into the cavern. "Someone order a pickup?" 

"Yes please!" Elias cupped his hands around his mouth, seeing Silver and Shard hovering above them. "Gosh, you're a sight for sore eyes. How'd you get here so quickly?"

"More like how'd you manage to take so long with your mission!" Shard corrected. "You've been gone for way, way, way longer than you were supposed to be gone for!" 

"Let's just say we ran into some trouble," Leeta groaned as Silver helped her to her feet, sore from a day consisting of nothing but running, a lot of it for her life. "Where's Joker?"

"We ran into some trouble too, he's getting his arm sorted in HQ." Silver explained. "Geoffrey's a real nuisance."

"I still don't understand why he's doing this…" Hershey murmed, mainly to herself. "I just can't believe he'd be on board with Naugus…then again, I did fake my own death and haven't seen him for two years so...so…" A tear slipped down the cat's muzzle. "Maybe I should've tried to escape sooner, maybe if I was there...Maybe I could've talked some sense into him…"

Hershey bit her lip hard, trying to hold herself together. By now, the other Secret Freedom Fighters had taken notice of the cat, and were all paying attention.

"Hey, don't pin this on yourself," Leeta advised. "No offence, but he probably wouldn't have taken anything some mobian just randomly tried to talk to him about."

Elias shot Hershey a quizzical look. "You haven't told them?"

"Told us what?" Shard questioned.

Hershey pulled at the top of her bodysuit, and retrieved a necklace from underneath, a simple chain, bearing only a ring. "Geoffrey's my husband."

There were a few noises of shock, before Silver broke the silence, with the weird sense of sensitivity that only someone who basically grew up on their own, and had taken to hours of reading history books as a substitute for social interaction could acquire. "Aren't you supposed to be dead though?"

"No, I had to fake my death, in order to properly go undercover in the Dark Egg Legion. I guess in your time, I never got myself out of there."

"Oh man, I had no idea," Shard admitted. You know we still have to take him down though, right?"

"I know. But if we can, I want to try and reason with him, not go straight to obliterating him." The cat clarified.

"I don't see any harm in at least trying to reason with him," Silver agreed. "If we can avoid killing him, I think we should."

"Cool. Now that we've got that sorted, how about that lift out off here?" Shard offered.

"Don't mind if I do," Lyco smiled wearily. "If I ever have to see the bottom of this cursed pit again, it'll be too soon."

And little did they know, a pair of tear filled blue eyes was watching them as they left.

_____________________________________________

An hour earlier....

Geoffrey sped through the rocky tunnel, wondering what on mobius happened here, the walls crumbled and the air filled with the vile scent of burning. The wind whistled in his ears as his airboard continued to where Naugus had told him to meet him. Just how long was this tunnel? He must've been close to the centre of New Mobotropolis by now.

When he finally reached what had to have been the King's base of operations, he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. An impossibly wide cavern, every centimeter of stone reformed to make the place look a lot more like a room than anything else, with glowing text he couldn't read all over the walls. The skunk didn't know what he'd been expecting, but it wasn't this.

“Master, are you alright? What happened in the tunnnnn- oh sweet chaos!” The skunk recoiled, seeing Naugus’ twisted, mutated face staring right back at him, with pupils no more than thin lines, and crooked fangs that had grown way too big. As Geoffrey drew nearer, Naugus gripped his staff, drawing energy from it, then using it to fix his form, his face slowly reforming into its usual form. “What happened to you…?” 

“I just ran into some resistance, that’s all,” the Ixis wizard growled. “Fools. I don’t know what they were trying to accomplish, but I made sure they won’t try it again.” 

“I also ran into some trouble.” Geoffrey pulled out what he’d retrieved from the crypt. “But t-they gave me no trouble. I got what you asked me to.”

“Ah, perfect.” Naugus grinned. “With the bones of Ixis Vale, we can get a move on with this spell, and enter stage 2 of the plan.” 

“Spell..? Stage 2…?” Geoffrey hadn’t heard anything about that. “W-What’re you casting a spell on?”

“Surely you must’ve gathered by how far this tunnel goes that we’re under New Mobotropolis, right?” Naugus explained. “This isn’t any random location. No, we’re right under the Royal Military Headquarters, where the idiotic Council of Acorn gather. With this spell, their will shall be replaced with mine, and then, with full control of the government and by extent, the city, I’ll rebuild the Order of Ixis! The people of this city will become my army, and no one will be able to stand against us!” 

“NO!” Geoffrey instinctively snatched the remains of Vale away from the crazed wizard, and took a step away from him. “I brought you to this city because I thought you could change some things for the good, you know, be a step up from the Acorns, not...not so you could enslave them all!” 

“And who are you to talk to me about morality?” Naugus hissed. “When you’ve spent nearly your whole life backstabbing and stealing, for me, might I add.”

“I-I-I...I’ll…” Geoffrey stuttered, still holding Vale’s remains away from the King.

“Hand those over.” Naugus instructed. Geoffrey didn’t comply, still grasping the cloth the bones were wrapped in tightly, with clenched, sweaty paws. “You’ve got no option, apprentice.” Naugus sneered. “Who are you going to turn to? The fractured remains of your old team? Your dead wife?” 

“The Fr-”

“-eedom Fighters will never listen to you.” Naugus didn’t let Geoffrey finish. “Not after you mobbed one of them out of the city, in probably one of his weakest moments. I’m the only one left who’ll have you around.”

“Y-You planned this…” The skunk gasped, the weight of his situation finally dawning on him.

“Clever, was it not?” Nagus flashed his apprentice a horrifically gleeful smile. “I get the speedster out of my way, and I make sure that you have no one to fall back on, if something like this ever happened. If they didn’t hate you before, they certainly do now.”

The skunk’s grip on the bundle of bones he was carrying loosened, and Naugus snatched them away from him. “I’ll give you five minutes to rethink your lapse in judgement. Then, once you’re done with that, I need you to go and make sure that those intruder’s bodies are cold and dead in the bottom of the crater.”

Geoffery nodded, unable to find his voice, and curled up behind Naugus, mind racing, unable to contain his desperate shaking,

___________________________________________________________________

“So…” Harvey sighed heavily. “Let’s review everything we got out of those missions.”

“Well, it wasn’t a total failure ,” Larry spoke up first. “We did manage to figure out that Geoffrey stole Ixis Vale’s bones…”

“...And we got a tracker on his airboard, which shows us that he took those bones to the same place Naugus is at…” Shard continued.

“Which we now know is a ritual room,” Lyco added.

“And judging by this tracker, I’d say that ritual room is under the Royal Military Headquarters,” Hershey confirmed. 

“Which is where the Council of Acorn does their thing,” Lyco recalled. 

“And they’re meeting tomorrow....” Harvey stroked his chin. 

“So they’re putting a spell on the council…?” Shard wondered out loud. “What does Naugus want with those guys?”

“Think about it Shard!” Lyco exclaimed. “They make all the big decisions, and right now, they’re probably Naugus’ biggest obstacle. If he controls the government, he controls the city.”

“Slow down there…” the Director eased. “I agree that that seems like a good guess, but we’ll need some proof. We can’t afford to jump into this blind.”

“Oh! Hold on!” Leeta pulled out that random scrap of paper she’d found in the bottom of the ditch. “I’m sorry I forgot to mention, but I found this in the hole!”

Harvey studied the paper, reading the note with an intense frown. It read: **Tomorrow morning, 7:30AM. He wants control of the government. Stop his spell at any cost. Take me down with him if you have to.**

Hershey recognised the handwriting on the note well, but didn’t say anything about it.

“Do you think we can trust it, Director?” Larry asked, as the team all craned their necks to lean over and gaze at the contents of the note. 

“Hmmm…” Harvey’s frown deepened. “It does seem to line up with everything we know so far…” 

“So we’re going through with it?” Silver asked.

“Yes.” The owl confirmed. “But I’m going to give you a backup plan, just in case this was a trick. But for now, I think you should all go and get some rest, it’s been a very long day.” 

And one by one, the Secret Freedom Fighters all fell asleep, until there was only one left. Shard couldn’t sleep. Literally. With Eggman’s huge push for world domination, it was extremely uncommon for any of his robots to have any sort of ‘sleep mode’. If you could have machines do work for you 24/7, why wouldn’t you? 

Bored out of his mind after only forty five minutes, Shard decided to go for a walk. Sure, he wasn’t supposed to be seen, but who was going to see him at this time of night?

_________________________________________________________________

_“Do you think they’re awake yet?”_

“Sonic, it’s 2AM.” Jules looked up from the book he’d been reading to see Sonic lying on the floor, looking straight up at the ceiling, arms and legs spread out like he was trying to make a snow angel in the carpet. 

Sonic drummed his fingers on the ground, impatient as ever. The nights seemed so much longer when you were waiting for something to do in the morning, especially something as exciting as an adventure. Now bored of counting every single dust particle in the air above him, Sonic got to his feet, and resorted to staring out the window, looking at the few stars that dotted the night sky. He smiled, wondering if Nicole was doing the same. The robian seemed perfectly content, until his attention was diverted by a figure, walking past said window, looking in slightly. 

Sonic knew that guy! It was one of the two from earlier! He opened the window, and stuck his head out. The black and yellow robot nearly toppled over in surprise, apparently not expecting someone to do that. He backtracked slightly, taking a few steps away from Sonic. 

“Sorry Sonic, didn’t realise you were there,” Shard almost sounded like he was expecting to be judged. 

_“No, wait don’t go!”_ Sonic waved a hand at Shard, indicating that he wanted the robot to come back. _“I just wanted to thank you for stopping me from being stabbed earlier!”_

“Oh,” Shard smiled, slightly sheepish seeming. “Yeah, no problem. You’re not mad at me then?” 

_“No? Why would I be mad at you?”_

“Uhhhh...No reason.” Shard had heard Sonic’s memory was scrambled, but not this scrambled. Still, he wasn’t complaining that they weren’t fighting.

 _“Well ok then,”_ Sonic shrugged, though there was a little bit of a passive aggressive quality to his voice, wondering just why Shard thought the robian would be mad at him. _“What’re you doing?”_

“Nothing much,” Shard replied. “I’m just bored, waiting for all the other...my teammates to wake up.”

 _“Tell me about it,”_ Sonic sympathized with the robot. _“I really need to visit the digital world, but I don’t know how to get there, and all my friends are asleep.”_

“I can show you how to get to the digital world.”

_“Can you!?”_

“Umm yeah. It’s pretty easy, really.”

_“Please do.”_


	9. Glitch in the matrix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic journeys through the digital world

“Alright then!” Shard hopped up and swung in through the window.

Sonic quickly shushed him, _“My mom is sleeping, don’t be so loud!”_

“Alright, alright, sorry.” Shard muttered, annoyed. It was at that moment that Jules looked up from his book, and stared at Shard. “Uhhh hi…” Shard waved awkwardly. “I’m a friend of Sonic’s?” 

“Sonic do you know who this is?” Jules frowned, not recognising the robot, who also didn’t seem to match the description of anyone Sonic had mentioned before.

_“Uh, yeah. He saved my life!”_ Sonic explained. _“And he’s going to help me get to the digital world!”_

“That’s right! I spend a lot of time hanging out there, so I can help him there!” Shard assured. The robot wasn’t entirely sure why he was doing this. Maybe it was because he still felt bad about nearly killing Sonic, and was trying to make it up to him. 

“Hmm. Ok then.” Jules returned to his book, with no immediate reason to distrust the newcomer, having never met him before. The robot seemed friendly enough, and besides, it with the way the robot was positioned, it was too dark to see the emerald green gem in his chest. 

“Cool.” Shard took a seat on the floor, and Sonic followed. “So, pretty much all robots and A.I’s can access the digital world, and that’s pretty easy, but getting inside what’s basically your brain? Not so easy.” Shard’s green eyes gleamed with excitement. This could be fun. “But definitely not impossible, I can take us both there. All you need to do is just relax yourself, and I’ll do the rest.”

_“This is safe, right?”_ Sonic asked, hinting he was a bit nervous.

Shard nodded, “It’s perfectly safe, I do this all the time.” The robian gave him a look of doubt, “What? It is! As long as you don’t do anything you shouldn’t you’ll be fine. Now hold still, and try not to fidget."

Shard pulled a weird kind of plug out from Gaia knows where, and placed it into a socket near them. He then handed a cable to Sonic, who after a few seconds of fumbling, plugged it into himself. Sonic's vision went black, unable to see anything for a good few seconds, before his sight returned, showing him that same matrix of red panels and glowing lines he'd seen before. There were walls too, seemingly randomly arranged, all very blocky looking, nothing appearing rounded.

"Pretty cool, right?" Shard sounded pleased with himself. "Got any idea of where we need to go?"

_"No, not really,"_ Sonic tapped his foot on the ground, thinking hard. _"I just know that I saw a whole load of wires and cords, tangling...well me, before I was a robot up."_

"Huh.." Shard paused for a second. "Well, that doesn't sound like something we could miss easily. If we keep walking around, we're bound to find it." Sonic nodded and the two started their journey walking around in the digital world. Looking around his mind, he noticed digitised trees, bushes and forest critters littered his mind. Was it like his happy place? He imagined it would be a bit barren. 

“Your mind is pretty chill. You must really like nature too." Shard remarked, “hey I didn’t ask before but why do you-”

"Yes, he does." Both robots with an added squeak from Shard, would've jumped out of their skin, if they had any, as the head and torso of Nicole materialised in front of them, followed by her legs and feet. 

"What're you doing here?" Shard exclaimed, now over the shock of seeing his friend pop up out of nowhere.

"I just figured you'd want some help, that's all," Nicole explained. "I saw what you were up to and decided to tag along for assistance! That and traversing what is essentially someone's mind is a very delicate process and one wrong move could probably end in catastrophe."

Shard scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, assistance. Just say it, you don’t trust me. All ya gotta do is say it, I won’t be offended.”

"Don't take it too hard," Nicole responded, now trying to ease her blow. "There are very few people I'd trust to handle something as fragile as a 'brain'. I'm not even entirely confident in myself here."

“Well, no one’s perfect. I mean, given your track record…” he muttered.

Nicole glared at the robot, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh you know, the iron army, the Babylon garden fiasco, oh and don’t forget the reason why we’re here.”

There was a moment where Shard and Nicole locked their glares for a bit. The robian stuck in the middle was looking back and forth between the two, not knowing fully what was going on between them. Before he could say anything to stop the two from going any further, he felt his ear twitch just before hearing a noise. Looking back at Shard and Nicole, still concentrated on each other, he heard it again. Fully turning to the sound he hesitated for one more second when he started walking to it.

"I- I’m sorry, those were low blows, especially since you’re right," Shard admitted with a large 'sigh', looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry, I've just been really on edge with how bad the last mission went with us being buried and reminding me of..."

"And I’m sorry for not trusting you but I can't…" Nicole shut her eyes for a second. "...I can't let anything else happen to Sonic...if the Freedom Fighters fall apart anymore than they already have I...don't know if I could handle it."

Shard put his only hand on her shoulder, “I don’t fully get it but enough to know that, again, I really shouldn’t of said tha-” 

Nicole looked up at Shard due to the sudden cut off, “What happened? Wait, where’s -?”

“I was just about to say, where did Sonic go?” Shard said with worry, even more now due to Nicole not noticing either. “Ah Chaos! First outing with blueberry and I already lost him!” 

Shard waved his arms around in frustration, “in his own mind for that matter!”

_______________________________

Sonic looked around the scenery as he wandered around. Digital polygon birds tweeted as they flew by, the tree leaves rustled as an artificial breeze blew around and many other small polygon animals went about their business. He knew this place wasn’t real, but it made him feel content, happy. But something was calling him out here. He just didn’t know where it was coming from. A blue digital butterfly entered his field of vision, it fluttered around his face, making him smile a little. The butterfly landed on the tip of his muzzle, making Sonic go cross-eyed, before taking off, leading him further into the peaceful, yet oddly neon coloured landscape.

Sonic followed the butterfly, getting the sense that it was leading him somewhere. The robian continued through the digitised landscape of his mind, fascinated by the surreal appearance of his surroundings. Everything had glowing, neon outlines, then the structures with these lines were filled in by slightly darker colours. There were no smooth edges, everything was made up of polygons and cubes. What a weird place. 

A big glowing mass of blue caught his attention. Sonic swerved off of his current path to find that the mass appeared to be a pond. When he got closer, he was mesmerised by the sight. The water glowed brightly, and was so clear you could see fish swimming around. A few lily pads littered the pond's surface, while a few frogs sat on top of them, letting out synthesised croaks. Sonic leaned over the pond, fascinated by its glassy surface and colourful inhabitants. He staggered back at the sight of his reflection. What happened to him? 

His eyes looked like they were the last time he saw them but the head plate was missing, his ears clearly visible now but much more triangle in shape and...glowing? His quills also had a smooth transition to his head with some more of that teal glow coming from the sides of him. He could see on his muzzle the faint outline of where his cheeks were in his robian body and as he lifted a hand to touch them he noticed that his hands now wore gloves along with his whole arm being tan in color, his joints lighting up with thinner blue color. 

Looking down he saw that his stomach was one solid circle and legs all blue with the same joint deal going on but his feet were still shoe shaped. He could feel it and see it with how articulated they were. Looking back he saw the familiar green glow of the quite large power gem but longer straighter back spines covering it along with a matching blue tail. Looking back at the lake he wondered if that his past self would find this just as cool looking as he thought. Before he could think otherwise he noticed in his reflection that the blue butterfly appeared to have landed on one of his ears.

He turned his head when the butterfly started flying again, it flew around in a circle until he got up off the ground. The butterfly then started flying in the safe direction it was leading him before. Sonic glanced at the pond before following the butterfly once more.

Where was it taking him?

Sonic ran, following the seemingly impossibly fast butterfly through his mindscape. After many winding paths, the hedgehog found himself outside a great, gaping cave entrance. Sonic didn't hesitate as he plunged into the unknown darkness. 

This was fun.

Sonic emerged from the other side of the cave, and automatically covered his eyes, as the glow before him was brighter than a flood light. When it stopped and Sonic could uncover his eyes, he saw a hallway long hallway, that looked like something you would see in an art museum, neon outlined panels set into the wall like paintings. 

Sonic approached one of the panels, and peered at its contents. Something almost like a little video played, a first person shot of someone at the dinner table. Sonic watched, intensely focused before something on the floor grabbed him by the bottom of his leg, and pulled him down onto the floor. Looking around, Sonic noticed a few thick, black cables, lining the floor. At first he felt annoyance at them, for tripping him over, before he realised. If he followed these, they'd probably lead him right where he needed to go.

The cables ran right down the hallway, and to a set of doors. Sonic wasted no time, and yanked them open, stepping inside.  
He was greeted by a great, dark chamber, with no bright outlines like everything he'd seen before. Instead, black tiles were stamped with an all too familiar logo. The logo of the Eggman Empire. At first the place seemed barren, empty, but on closer inspection, the whole place was lined with a thick web of cables and wires, growing more and more tangled, until the eventually reached a huge cluster in the center of the room. 

The little blue butterfly lazily flapped its wings, and landed itself on the mass of cables. Two of them jerked up like tentacles, wrapping themselves around the butterfly's wings, pulling it apart. The cyan glow that the digital creature had emitted was no more.

It's illumination had provided Sonic with a glimpse inside the cables though, where, just as he'd thought, a blue hedgehog was struggling desperately. Sonic's eyes were locked onto the hedgehog immediately, and a strange feeling of blankness fell upon him. The blue hedgehog was his target, his mission, his objective. Everything else melted away, nothing outside this room mattered. 

Priority 1: hedgehog.

Sonic dove into the endless mess that was holding his objective hostage, not stopping, no matter how many cables and wires tied themselves around his body, and tried to hold him back. They didn't matter. Irrelevant to his mission. He stretched his hand down in front of him, letting it explore, and creep further down into the messy restraints. Another hand grabbed his own. A hand encased in a white glove took his own, gripping it tightly. That was it, that was what he'd been waiting for. 

Priority 1.

He pulled hard with the arm that his objective was clinging on to, dragging him right out of the wires. He felt something snag as he tried to take Priority 1 out of the room, but he just kept pulling until the snagging stopped. He marched on to the door, everything around him an irrelevant blur.

The doors opened, Priority 1 was thrust forwards and fell on the ground, before Eggman Unit #00001- 

What was he doing?

Now that he was out of the strange chamber, Sonic was able to think more clearly. As he slammed the doors of that room shut, and leant against them, he recalled his thought process from only seconds ago. What happened to him in that room? He didn't know, but he was glad to be able to think more clearly now.

And that suddenly turned his attention to the gasping, confused hedgehog on the floor in front of him. It was Sonic, no doubt about that, but a pre roboticizer incident Sonic. Unlike the now roboticized Sonic, with his strange cyborg form that he'd taken to match this world, Pre-Sonic looked exactly the same as he'd been in all the pictures.

"Who are you?" Pre-Sonic studied his doppelganger with wary eyes, pulling himself off the ground.

_"My name is Sonic,"_ Sonic stated, hoping that his other self could understand him. _"But I'm guessing that's your name too."_

“Uhh, you uh,” the pre version looked a little weirded out, “you like, my conscience or something?”

_“Well,”_ he scratched the side of his head, trying to think of what to say, _“it’s kinda hard to explain. I think Nicole would have a better idea of what’s going on, because to be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself."_

"Nicole's here?" Pre-Sonic glanced around wildly. "Where is here, anyway?"

_"It's kind of like the inside of my...errrr.. our brain?"_

Pre-Sonic looked confused, “What? How could Nicole be in my head?! She can’t access another person’s mind unless it's digit-,” he cut himself short. The hedgehog stared into space with a look of realisation, “I… I was roboticized, wasn’t I? That's why you look like a cyborg…"

Pre-Sonic sat on the floor of the hall, staring ahead blankly, unresponsive. He could only mutter a few words.

"I don't understand what's going on."

_"Me neither,"_ the cyborg hedgehog admitted. _"There weren't supposed to be two of us. I was supposed to come in here and get my memories back, not meet my past self."_

More silence. Eventually, Pre-Sonic stood up, and walked over to the doors where the roboticized Sonic stood. 

"Welp, we can't exactly sit here to rot for the rest of time, can we? What's our next course of action?"

_"I think we should find Shard and Nicole. Hopefully they can give us some answers."_

"Did somebody call?" The black and yellow robot strode down the hall, accompanied by Nicole, before noticing that he was seeing double. "Oh dear chaos there's two of them." 

Nicole observed the twin hedgehogs, green eyes hidden behind her heavy frown, "Fascinating…" The lynx remarked. "But also worrying...I theorised something like this could've been the case when I examined Sonic back in Freedom HQ…" 

"What could've been the case?" Shard questioned. "What, did getting amnesia split the pre-robot Sonic and Sonic-bot, here into two people or something?"

"N-Not quite." the lynx stammered, "So, y-you know how when Eggman roboticizes someone, their free will is gone? Well, that's because it's usually replaced with a primitive AI, that then awaits orders and the person's mind is locked away, so to speak. But because the Death Egg II crumbled before the roboticizer could fully finish the job this time, the AI inside Sonic didn't get any orders, and so instead latched on to Sonic's digitised mind, essentially creating...well...two Sonics..."

_“So I’m a...copy…”_ Sonic glanced at himself. _“And you need to remove me to get the real Sonic back, right?”_

“Out of the question!” Nicole shut that idea down quickly. “You are anything but a copy. From what I observed, it appears that your AI didn’t copy Sonics mind, it merged with it. You’re two halves of the same person now. Think of it like one of you is the left brain, and one of you is the right brain. We’re not removing you.” 

Sonic-bot continued to stare down at himself. So, at the core of his mind, there was the AI of a mindless badnik? That explained what happened to him back in the cable chamber, he supposed. He just hoped that it never happened again. 

“Ok, so if that’s all, can we go now? I have something really important to get t-” Shard began to walk off, but Pre-Sonic stopped him, catching sight of the robot’s power gem. 

“Hey, wait a minute, you’re-” 

“Oh man alive, here we go…” Shard groaned. 

“Metal Sonic!?” 

“Look, buddy, I’ll have you know two things,” Shard struggled to remain calm. “One, it’s Shard, not Metal Sonic. Two, say whatever you want about me, but the least you can do is appreciate the fact that you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.” 

“Wouldn’t be here because of you?” Sonic growled aggressively. “You nearly killed me, and my brother! And you..and you..” Sonic groaned, clutching his head in his hands. “Saved my life…? Wow...I-I-I don’t remember this…” 

“You’ve been out for about two weeks,” Nicole sighed in relief that no one started fighting in this place, “you’ve missed a-a lot of things. But Shard is right, we need to get out of the digital world, then we can catch you up. 

_“Quick question Nicole,”_ Sonic-bot grabbed the lynx’s attention. _“How’s it going to work in the real world now that he’s free?”_

“I’m not sure…” Nicole admitted. 

“Only one way to find out!” Pre-Sonic concluded. “So, is there an exit to this place or…” 

Giving no signal that he was about to do so, Shard in the corporeal world yanked the cable connecting him and Sonic out of the socket, and two pairs of bright green eyes lit up, though their glow was not noticeable in the pale light of the early morning they woke up in. 

As it turned out, Pre-Sonic ended up in control of the body right now, and he hadn’t prepared himself for waking up like this. The first thing he noticed was that he felt heavy, clunky. Before, he’d always thought of himself as being light, quick, slippery. Now, he felt the opposite. 

_“Woah…”_ as the hedgehog tried to grapple with his unfamiliar body, he noticed his voice. Or, not really his voice. Rather, a set of synthesized beeps and boops. Pre felt a sense of panic run through him, something he wasn’t used to, much like his new ‘voice’. It felt so unnatural to him, hearing those noises come out of his mouth. Sonic tried to stand, but failed. Chaos, how could anyone get around in this thing? 

**_‘Need a hand?’_ **

A voice echoed through Sonic’s head. 

**‘Other me? Where are you?’**

_**‘The digital world still. There’s this massive screen where I can see what you see. If you want, I can take the wheel for now.’** _

Pre-Sonic took about two seconds to decide that, yes, he’d like Sonic-bot to take over. 

**‘Sure thing. But at some point, I do want to learn to adapt to this body, and be able to use it.’**

_**‘Of course! Don’t worry though, I was wobbly for a few days too.’** _

On that note, the two Sonics switched places, Bot now taking control of the body, and Pre resting in the digital world. Bot assured Pre that he could have time to learn how to get about, and adapt to his newly roboticized state, which still felt rather surreal to Pre anyway. He kind of felt like he was having a crazy dream, but he knew he wasn’t. Realising that there was no one to see him do it in this digital mindscape, the hedgehog let a tear slip down his muzzle. He wished this was a dream. 

Shard swung himself out of the window, muttering something about how it was 8:30, and that ‘the others’ were going to kill him, closing it behind him as the robot rocketed off into the distance. 

“Good morning,” Jules set the book he’d been reading, now nearly finished, down, and strolled over to his son. “How did things go in the digital world?” 

_“Kind of weirdly, but not in a bad way. I did manage to get my memories back, just not in the way you’d expect.”_ Sonic hated to be vague, but he didn’t feel like melting either robian’s processors right now. Hearing it from Nicole a little while back had already nearly blown his brain up, though that might’ve part been due to learning about his true origins. 

“Can never have a dull moment, can you?” Jules asked, honestly not surprised by Sonic’s answer. When you knew Sonic, you just got used to some of the crazy things that happened to or around him. 

_**‘Dad can understand all those weird noises we’re making?’**_ Pre asked curiously, watching the interaction play out. 

_**‘All the other robots and AI I’ve met so far can.'** _

_"Doesn't seem that way, does it?"_ Sonic replied, his pupils turning into bright green arches, as he put one finger under what would've once been his nose, and put the other hand on his hip. 

A yawn grabbed both robians' attention, as Bernadette strolled into the room, stretching her arms. "Morning," the hedgehog greeted sleepily. "Anyone else for toast?" There was a three second gap before Bernadette facepalmed, "Can you tell I just woke up?" 

"It's alright," Jules shrugged. "No harm done. We'll keep you company if you'd like? Maybe make some drinks?" 

"Sure, that'd be nice." Bernie agreed. 

Sonic wondered why 'drinks' was plural, when his mother was the only one who would need one, but didn't ask. He didn't want to talk about the whole being split up thing right now, he'd prefer to explain it all later, so he probably shouldn't say anything that would raise suspicion. 

_**'So, when are we going to tell them then?'** _

Pre's voice rang through Sonic-bot's head, a little passive aggressive in nature. Bot knew that Pre wasn’t happy with keeping this a secret, and he didn't blame him. They weren't technically lying to their parents, but it felt a little like it. 

_**'Soon. Once everyone's settled at the table, I promise.'**_

____

Pre-Sonic was satisfied with that answer, and the robian took a seat at the table, shortly joined by Bernadette, and Jules, who was indeed holding two drinks. Sonic peered over and looked at Jules' drink, which revealed itself to be a thick black substance. 

____

_"Engine oil?"_ Sonic remarked, before remembering he was supposed to not give his whole memory situation yet. 

____

"Yes, I started having it whilst you had that year in space. I kept freezing up and nearly shutting down for a bit. Turns out I needed a fuel of some kind. Grossed me out at first, but hey, it keeps me going." 

____

Sonic nodded in response, thankful for the quick save, though it wouldn't matter in a few moments. He had to tell them. 

____

_"So, the whole memory thing,"_ Sonic began, knowing that this might be a lot. _"I do have my memories back, but I've kind of been split into two halves…?"_

____

Jules stared at Sonic, silent and very confused looking, "Explain." 

____

Sonic tapped his fingers on the table, struggling to try and find the right words to expand on his situation. 

____

_"Instead of finding my memories in the digital world, I found a version of myself with all my memories. But we're not exactly two different people, Nicole used this analogy where she said it was like one of us was left brain and one was right brain."_

____

Jules continued in his silence. The robian had been expecting something out of the ordinary, but not this. Regardless, he translated what Sonic said to Bernadette, who was equally as shocked. Several questions, translations and explanations later, Sonic just about managed to catch his parents up. 

____

Sonic said goodbye to them after everyone had finished their very strange breakfast, and headed for Freedom HQ, irritated by his exile, but still not feeling like getting mobbed out again. Pre sat in the digital world in dead silence, looking through all the memories Bot made. Bot could feel the hedgehog’s sadness as he watched Bunnie run away to wherever she ended up going, and learned about Anntoine’s coma. He felt rage burn inside him as the hedgehog discovered the truths of his and Nicole’s exile, Babylon Garden nearly destroying the planet, and Naugus snatching the crown. He shoved the doors of Freedom HQ open, and walked inside, feeling down due to having to essentially relive painful memories. Nicole noticed this, and came over to talk to her friend. 

____

“If it makes you feel any better, Amy, Tails and Sally said they were going to come over here in a little bit,” Nicole informed. “I don’t know why, but that could be fun, right? 

____

_“Yeah,”_ Sonic managed a weak smile, not overly enthralled by having to explain his situation for a second time, but grateful that he’d get to see them nonetheless, his Pre self especially. 

____

Not long after that interaction, an incredibly familiar noise met Sonic’s ears, a noise he could never forget; the sound of the tornado. Amy wildly flung the doors open, hammer in her hand, looking ready for action. Tails and Sally followed closely behind, also seeming like they were ready to go. 

____

_“What’s the situation, guys?”_ Sonic asked, sensing that something was up. 

____

“We got a call from Remington,” Sally explained. “The Dark Egg legion are causing mayhem in Albion, and they’ve captured a lot of people. He’s requested some help, so I’m sending myself and Team Fighters in for assistance. And Nicole, if she’s willing to assist me.” 

____

“Sally, I can’t, my-” Nicole stopped as Sally revealed something she’d been hiding behind her back. A small computer, similar to Nicole’s old handheld, but with a clip on the top. “Oh my…” 

____

“I got a new handheld made for you,” Sally handed the device to the lynx, smiling brightly. “It’s pretty much the same as your old one, but with one major modification. You see that clip on the top? If you slot a power ring in there, it should allow you to project your physical form wherever we go, for a certain amount of time.” 

____

Nicole blushed lightly, and thanked Sally gratefully. Nicole and Sonic got themselves prepared to go, and then Team Fighters, along with Sally and Nicole jumped aboard the tornado, headed straight for Albion, prepared to jump into the midst of chaos the second they landed there. And little did they know, about 30 years from their time, a certain echidna was preparing to make the same trip. 

____

_______________________________________________________________ 

____

“Come on Guardian, you got this!”  
King Sonic’s voice sounded through the room, as the entire place became illuminated with chaos energy. The pink and red echidna standing in the middle of the room clenched her teeth as she focused on performing the chaos control. She was nearly there, her fingers tingling with pure energy before… 

____

The light in the room diminished. Lara-Su stood, gasping for air from the failed chaos control. 

____

“It’s no use…” she breathed. “They’re going to be gone forever…” 

____

The events of the earlier morning played out in her mind, still just as fresh and terrifying as the first time. People literally fading out of existence before her very eyes, her mother, her father, random people in the street. Mostly echidnas, but a few others were gone too. How she wasn’t gone yet was beyond her, but mind you, neither was her irritating half-cousin Rutan. The reason for their disappearance wasn’t clear, but she and Sonic had agreed that something so major had happened back in the prime timeline, that it’d sent ripples through every other timeline. 

____

“Listen, if everyone’s got this it’s you,” Sonic reassured. “You’re a chaos energy powerhouse, just like your dad, and probably every other guardian.” 

____

“Time travel through chaos control is just a theory though,” Lara-Su sighed, before remembering why she was doing this. Was she really just going to be content with letting hundreds of people fade out of time forever? “But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible!” the echidna corrected herself, determined once more. 

____

“That’s the attitude,” Sonic chimed in. “Ok, how’s this for an idea. This time, I’ll try and chip in some of my own energy, to give you a boost.” 

____

“Sounds like a plan,” the echidna agreed. She focused her mind once more, gathering chaos energy, and recounting Tikal’s prayer over and over again in her head. Sonic drew upon his own energy too, putting his mind into helping the younger echidna go back in time. Lara felt the chaos energy creeping through her fingers again, but this time it went further, through her hands and arms, until eventually it was circulating around her entire body. 

____

“Chaaaaaos…”  
“Chaos!”  
Lara-Su and Sonic yelled in unison. 

____

“CONTROL!” 

____

A blinding flash of light lit up the room, before it was just Sonic standing alone in there. 

____

_______________________________________________________ 

____

Lara stumbled, regaining her balance as she arrived in an unfamiliar environment. Cries and shouts filled the air, and rain pelted down onto a muddy ground, the grass trampled away by a countless amount of footprints. 

____

“Jani-Ca?” 

____


	10. Endangered Species

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos ensues in Albion

“Ummm Julie...your thingy’s beeping…” Saffron Bee tapped the echidna’s shoulder. Julie-Su grabbed her cybernetic dread, and held the tip near her mouth, listening for a second before talking into the mouthpiece, having a conversation with someone unknown on the other end. 

“Ok then,” the pink echidna finished off her conversation. “I’ve got a warp ring with me, so I’ll catch you in five minutes.”

“Who was it?” Saffron inquired, wondering who on mobius needed help in just five minutes. 

“Remington,” Julie-Su informed. “The Dark Egg legion are taking control in Albion, and he’s calling to the Chaotix for help. Told him I’d be there in five. Knuckles and Team Fighters are on their way too.” 

“But most of the Chatotix aren’t here, it's just us,” the bee fretted. “I-I’m sure Knuckles and Team Fighters have it covered, we should stay here and watch the Master Emerald.” 

“That can be your job then, Princess,” Julie-Su dismissed Saffron’s comment. “No way on Mobius I’m going to stand by and let my horrible half-sister trample all over innocent people and their homes again.” 

The pink and purple echidna marched off, going to get some weapons and the wrap ring ready, leaving Saffron sat by the Master Emerald’s altar, thinking. Not letting innocent people’s homes get trampled? She thought of her own home, long gone, and destroyed by Eggman, barely any survivors left remaining. Wasn’t that nearly the exact same thing that was happening to everyone in Albion right now? The bee zipped up her bomber jacket, and got up off of the ground. It’d been about two minutes and Julie-Su said she was going to leave in five, so Saffron flew off after the echidna, and found her about to enter a golden hoop of light.

“Wait!” the bee called, hurrying to where her friend stood. “I want to come with you!” 

“Oh? Thought you were watching the Emerald.”

“The Master Emerald can wait,” Saffron said. “And Tikal will protect it if things get really, really bad. I want to help you save them!”

“Alright kid,” Julie-Su ruffled Saffron’s hair. “I don’t see why not.”   
The echidna pulled a radio headpiece out from her utility belt.   
“Take this, it’s synced up to my cybernetic, which I’ll sync up with Nicole and Team Fighters’ communicators when we get there, so you can stay in contact with everyone.”

“Right! I’ll be careful with it, I promise!” 

“You better be,” Julie-Su teased. “Now, let's go help Albion.”

___________________________________________________________________

Conveniently, the tornado flight just so happened to be about long enough for Sonic to explain his situation to his friends, with some help from Nicole. Amy seemed relatively unbothered, Sally was beyond being shocked by anything that happened to the hedgehog at this point, and Tails said nothing at all. Sonic figured he was probably just too focused on flying the plane to take it all in, and the robian didn’t blame him. 

As the tornado hovered over Albion, Sonic peered at the ground below them, looking nothing short of a battlefield. The Dark Egg Legion had already done an awful amount of damage here, and Bot could feel Pre's rage as he stared down at the ruined landscape. His feelings were interrupted, however, as the Tornado shuddered from a large hit. Sonic glanced over his shoulder, to see a large, red robot, resembling an echidna, shooting at the plane.

"Oh great, now there's a badnik on our tails!?" Amy groaned, also shifting her view to their attacker.

_“There’s a Metal Knuckles!?”_ Bot yelled out only to fall on deaf ears.

**“This is new to me as well dude.”** Pre said as he watched the robot circle around, getting ready for another attack, **“Uh, buddy, not to be pushy or anything.”**

Bot nodded, _“Yeah, he’s circling back! He’s circling back!”_

The robot's rapid beeping eventually grabbed Tails' attention, and giving no warning, swerved the plane downwards, trying to escape the killer robot. Metal Knuckles dove after them, firing another lazer that got dangerously close to hitting the Tornado's left wing. Sensing that something needed to be done, Sonic launched a homing attack at the approaching robot, only to be beaten back onto the Tornado by a strong pair of metallic fists.

"Tails!" Sally shouted over the noise of the wind and shots. "Can you land us safely?"

"I'm going to try my best!" the fox shouted, wildly grappling with the plane's controls.   
Another shot was fired by Metal Knuckles, and this time it hit something critical in the plane, causing it to spiral out of control. In a last minute attempt to gain any sense of stability, Tails yanked the control stick, managing to at the very least get the plane into a decent enough landing position. 

"Gosh," Amy ran her hands through her quills. "How many times are we going to crash this plane?" 

"Hopefully this'll be the last time it crashes," Sally dusted herself off, and removed herself from the wreckage of the plane. 

"That's wishful thinking," Tails moaned. "Guess I'll have to fix this thing up again." 

The group left the Tornado, and headed into the remains of Albion, buildings crumbling and wildlife destroyed. A storm was lingering overhead, and the mud beneath their feet was thick and wet, as if it had only just stopped raining. 

"You guys sure know how to make an entrance." Everyone turned to the left, and found the speaker to be Julie-Su, standing with Saffron, Remington and a red echidna with pink hair, who Sonic hadn't met before.

"Oh, good, you're here," Remington greeted the team. "Seems like you've already met Eggman's newest creation too." 

"Yeah, it's a real pain in the butt," Amy complained. "And he had the nerve to model it after Knuckles too!"

"It's a nasty piece of work, I'll say that much," Sally folded her arms. "So, how're things holding up here?"

"Not well," Remington admitted. "We evacuated everyone we could yesterday, but the Legion has captured a huge amount of us. Thankfully, we do know that they're being kept alive, at least for the time being. So here's the plan; Team Fighters will distract Lien-da and the legion, whilst the rest of us will rescue all the echidnas being held captive. Knuckles already went ahead of us."

There were noises of agreement from nearly everyone, except Julie-Su, who stood, silently disapproving.

"Listen, I know you want to have a go at your sister, but it's better if no one suspects the Chaotix are here." Remington reminded the former legionnaire. "You can't let yourself be driven into doing something stupid by your grudges."

"Whatever," the pink echidna sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing that Remington had a point, but not liking it. "So it's me, you, Saffron, Sally and…" Her purple eyes settled on the red and pink stranger next to her.

"Lara." The echidna clarified. "Just Lara. I'm uhh...pleased to meet you." 

Was it just Sonic's imagination, or did she sound somewhat uncomfortable when she spoke? He asked Pre if they'd met her before, and apparently the answer was no. Maybe she just didn't like talking to strangers. The robot gave her a little wave of hello, and she lifted her hand in reply.

"Pleased to meet you too!" Amy greeted, "I'm Amy, these two are Sonic and Tails, Sally's over there with Nicole, I'm guessing you've already met Remington, and the other two are Julie-Su and Saffron."

Lara gave the group a confused look, “Wait, that,” she points to the robian, “is Sonic the Hedgehog?”

Tails sighed, crossing his arms and looked quite annoyed, “Do we have to broadcast this or something…?” 

"Yes, it's him," Sally confirmed. "Sonic got roboticized, about two weeks ago, when the whole Death Egg II fiasco happened."

"Oh yeesh, I'd only heard rumours," Julie-Su scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Didn't think they'd actually got you. Are you doing ok in there, blue?"

Sonic replied with a thumbs-up, unable to do much more to signify his status. He longed to have an actual voice, but there was nothing he could do about it right now.

"Introductions aside," Remington steered the conversation back to the task at hand, aware that they were losing time, but also acknowledging that it would probably be beneficial for everyone to know each other's names. "Team Fighters are distracting the Legion, and the rest of you are with me, alright?"

Nods all around. 

Sally wished Team Fighters good luck, and snuck off with the rest of the group she was with, whilst Sonic, Amy and Tails headed into the parts of Albion where the Legion had begun setting up a base. Hoping to make it appear as if this wasn't a distraction, and they were actually attacking, everyone decided to head for different parts of the base, making them at least seem to have some kind of tactic.

Sonic ran through the treacherous terrain, Bot in control, acting with Pre's instructions to 'attack anything that looks important'. Unfortunately, not many things around the area the robian had chosen to attack looked particularly important. Well, until he stumbled upon a massive radio tower. 

Sonic grinned to himself. Now this looked important.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," A voice unexpectedly warned, speaking smoothly, but with an underlying layer of poison, as if one wrong move would tick the speaker off. Approaching Sonic from behind came a red echidna, dressed in a dark purple outfit, with a cybernetic dread, similar to Julie-Su's, who Pre quickly identified as Lien-da, the Grand Master in charge of this sector of the Legion.

_**'What do we do?'** _

Pre laughed, sounding cocky all of a sudden.

**'Keep doing what I said. Attack anything that looks like it might be important, such as the leader of this whole operation. She's pretty important.'**

Bot realised what Pre was getting at. Keeping the Grand Master focused on them would no doubt benefit the other team, and their operation.

_"No, I think I will,"_ Sonic snarked, Pre's attitude shining through. According to Pre, this echidna’s usual weapon of choice was a whip, or some form of Eggman tech, and she wasn't carrying anything right now. The hedgehog scoffed, this was a walk in the park.

"I'm warning you…" 

The tone of her voice put Sonic off just a little, as he prepared to topple the radio tower. You weren't just that confident if you couldn't back it up. That being said, Sonic didn't stop, getting ready to spin dash into the tower, deciding to go for it anyway.

Lien-da's face cracked open into a sadistic smile, filled to the brim with sharp teeth. Beams of electricity sprang from her palms, and whipped out at Sonic, catching him on the back, forcing the robian to let out a sound close to a screech or pain, as he landed in the boggy mud of the ground, still trying to recover from the electric shock. 

"That was just a little taste of what I can do," Lien-da laughed, as Sonic's wide, red eyes settled on her in surprise. "Whilst these powers haven't been tested on someone like you yet, I doubt they'll do anything pretty to you." 

_**'You didn't tell me she could do that!'**_ Bot internally cried.

**'I didn't know she could, she's never been able to do that before!'**

The echidna advanced rapidly now, swinging her hands, and trying to catch Sonic in more beams of electricity, which the robian narrowly missed being hit by, as he jumped around, also having to do his best not to slip over in the slippery mud bath below him. Why'd she have to have electric powers? There were so many weapons that as a robian, had no effect on him, because of his inability to feel. But no, she just had to have one of the only things that he could feel, and that hurt. 

_"How's she doing that anyway…"_ Sonic managed to beep out to himself at a low volume, as he narrowly missed a bolt of electricity.

"Working for a madman does have some perks," Lien-da said, continuing to shoot beams at Sonic, even through conversation. "When Eggman put my body back together, he didn't just stop at remaking my pretty face." 

**'She's probably stuffed with internal cybernetics then…'** Pre speculated. **'I'm guessing that's also how she can hear us, Eggman probably had to fix a part of her brain or something.'**

_**'Why would anyone want to have a mishmash of organic and mechanical internals?'**_ Bot asked, bewildered. It sucked beyond belief a lot of the time.

**'I dunno man. The Dark Legion are weirdos like that.'**

Sonic bounced around, weighing his options. Escaping didn't really seem plausible right now, she'd just follow him, and he risked alerting her of the other team. So that just left the option of fighting. Landing a hit on the Grand Master might be tricky, given the less than stable ground below him, but he'd have to give it a shot. Sonic skidded to a halt in the mud, and aimed a spin dash at the echidna. He was close to getting a hit in, until the robian felt a large pulse of electricity, forcing him to instinctively unfurl. 

If only he had a more long range attack, Sonic thought, until he remembered nearly blowing his ears and head open with the cannon arm he'd randomly gained. Maybe not. 

Sonic spun at Lien-Da again, this time succeeding in getting a hit on her. The echidna slipped into the mud, and Sonic stood over her, satisfied. Another spin and he could probably knock her out cold, and then he'd be free to take the radio tower. 

For someone who was on the ground, at her enemy's mercy, Lien-Da sure was smiling a lot…

Oh.

Oh crap. 

Sonic had just gotten even closer to her than before, giving the malicious Grand Master the perfect opportunity to strike him properly. Sonic tried to refrain from letting out another mechanical screech as he felt the horrendous amount of energy being pumped through his circuits, unable to move from the sheer overload. The robian's heart was beginning to start thumping harder too, which was never a sign of comfort. 

Paralysed once more. Chaos, Sonic felt useless. The most he could do was just maintain a defiant glare, as the feeling of his limbs locking up returned again.

By now Lien-Da was on her feet again, not stopping her attack, despite Sonic clearly being very much down and defeated. There was a morbid curiosity within her, something that wanted to see just how far the robian could be pushed before he'd break. 

Sonic wondered how far he could be pushed too, and unfortunately, it seemed like he was going to find out. Not knowing if he could stubbornly resist his systems insisting that he needed to shut down now to prevent irreversible damage, for much longer, the robian summoned every inch of determination he had into making a distress call.  
____________________________

"Incoming distress call from Sonic!" Nicole notified, picking up the robian's signal from afar, as Saffron listened into her headset, and Julie-Su pressed a button on the side of her cybernetic headpiece, to stop it from beeping. 

"Ok, well, see you later guys," Julie-Su turned, and made to head to where the signal was being picked up from. 

"Stop! Where are you going!?" Remington cried in a somewhat commanding tone. 

"To go help Sonic, and by extent, our mission of course," the pink echidna explained, as if it were the most simple concept in the world. "I've checked the trackers Nicole's got, our position with sneaking into the Legion's centre of operations puts us closer than the rest of Team Fighters." 

"You can't just up and leave us half way through!" Remington continued, though now sounding more exasperated than commanding. "We need you!"

"Nah, you're all competent enough to take them, you've got this," Julie-Su began to run, a trail of mud splashing behind her. "And maybe this is a little bit selfish of me, but I don't care. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if my psycho of a sister took any of my friends' lives!"  
____________________________________________

Sonic was blacking out, he could feel it, and he could see it. His vision was getting blurrier by the second, and he'd been rendered fully incapable of moving. Was this where it was going to end for him? Because somehow he doubted Lien-Da wanted, or was even capable of showing him mercy, and not just dismantling him once he was inactive and completely vulnerable.

Droplets of drizzle landed on his metallic body, making tiny clinking noises. Of course it was raining, why wouldn't it be raining again? What a depressing way to go out, the robian thought, now in an almost delirious state of mind. Electrocuted to death by a mad woman, lying in the mud, in the rain.

Everything was getting fuzzy, and though Sonic was maintaining his brave glare, that was about all he was able to do in this moment. Was this really the end fo-

BANG! 

Lien-Da lost her focus on Sonic, as a laser fired into her chest. The electrocution stopped, and Sonic's vision slowly slipped back, allowing him to see who had shot at Lien-Da. Julie-Su stood, legs apart, boots caked in mud, with her proton gun in hand. Ignoring anything that Lien-Da had to say, she strode over to where Sonic lay, kneeling besides him in the dirt.

"You OK?" 

Sonic bleeped out something that the echidna couldn't understand, trying to explain that he could slowly feel his systems doing their best to balance his energy levels back out, and that he'd be ok, but he needed time to recover. 

Unable to make head nor tail of anything Sonic said however, Julie-Su firmly took a position in front of the robian, protectively standing her ground, which as luck would have it, worked out quite well for Sonic too.

"What're you doing here!?" Lien-Da hissed, electricity still crackling in her palms. 

"I might've been a soldier, but I was never any good at following orders," Julie-Su replied with a shrug. "And I've been waiting for this for a while." 

"For what? For an excuse to yell at me in the rain?" Lien-Da mocked.

"Yeah, kind of!" the pink echidna laughed, before growing more serious again. "You and your Legion are all corrupt pieces of crap, but you? You're the worst of them all. You killed my mother, then took my memories of her. And you tried to kill my foster parents, and when that didn't work, you took my memories of them, and turned me into a child soldier. You made me believe that I was worthless, and that my only purpose was to serve you and your terrible, terrible people. You…" She fried another lazer at Lien-Da in rage. "You're the worst!"

Lien-Da staggered backwards, taking the full impact of the hit, before furiously hitting Julie-Su in the face with a wave of electricity. 

"Is that how you want to play it then?" the red echidna asked, sending another wave of attacks, which Julie-Su narrowly dodged, minor injuries appearing on her one organic arm.

"Yes…" The former legionnaire landed on her feet just in front of Sonic, wiping blood from her nose where she'd been hit in the face, grinning wildly. "Bring it on!"

Sonic lay, slowly but surely regaining movement in his limbs, as the half-sisters fought. Pre watched the fight go down, nodding approvingly anytime Julie-Su got a good hit on her opponent, whilst Bot got to work with doing anything he could to hurry up their recovery process. His movement returned slowly, first returning to the very tips of the robian's fingers, then creeping up into his hands. Sonic silently willed for his movement to return quicker, desperately wanting to not feel as useless. 

Arms, upper legs, lower legs, come on, come on.   
___________________________________________

"I've located the prison cells of the facility, Sally." 

The chipmunk nodded to Nicole, as she crouched with the others, hiding right outside a large building, “Thank you Nicole, can you tell us where to go?"

An image of a map appeared on Nicole's handheld, showing where to go, and how to get there. Remington, Lara, and Saffron leaned over to take a look at the plans Nicole had calculated, and the estimated plans of the Dark Legion's base. 

"So they're being held right in the centre…" Saffron remarked, staring at the map. 

"That probably means they're being heavily guarded," Remington speculated, taking a glance at the facility, where only two guards stood. "Hence the lack of them outside."

"You got that right," A mound of dirt exploded from behind where the group crouched, as the red head of Knuckles the echidna popped out from the dirt. Saffron covered her mouth to stop herself from crying out, Nicole made a passing comment about how 'everyone says I'm bad', and Lara's oddly weirded out look returned. “Practically 90% of their whole invasion is in there.”

"Please don't tell me you went in, guns blazing, no assistance whatsoever?" Remington asked in concern, not only worried that the rescue operation might be in jeopardy, but also fearful for the prisoner's safety.

Knuckles cracked his… well… knuckles… with a look of anger in his eyes, “Not yet. Don't tempt me."

"As tempting as you might find it, I think being sneaky is our best bet," Remington warned. "There's no telling what they'll do to everyone they captured if they know we're attacking the facility, and I want to prevent any and all deaths."

"Do you have a plan?" Lara turned to look at Remington directly. "It seems like you do." 

"I do, if you're willing to follow." Remington confirmed. "I need someone to sneak inside, and find out how to turn the power off. Whilst they're distracted, the rest of us will sneak in, free the other prisoners and storm out. Once everyone's free, we'll be able to overwhelm the guards."

"You're not going to be able to get that power off easily," Knuckles said dismissively. "Unless anyone's got a way to become invisible, there's no way to get past all those guards. Guns blazing is the only way, I'm telling you."

"A-Actually," Saffron forced herself to suck her nerves up. "I do have a way."

"Do you?" Knuckles frowned, feeling like a bad friend for not having anything immediately spring to mind. 

"Yeah, I don't use it very often but I do have the ability to shrink myself pretty small, so…" Saffron flashed the facility an apprehensive glance. Be brave, be brave. "So I'll go and turn the power off for you!"

The bee girl received approval all around, and shrunk herself down, easily able to get past the two Legionnaire echidnas standing watch outside without either of them giving her any attention. Finally, Saffron thought, she felt useful. Nervous and on edge, but useful. In the past, she'd always held back on Chaotix missions, helping out, but always being at the back of the group.

Now, where would power be?   
Saffron flew around, scanning the area for anything that looked like it might help, and eventually stumbled upon a room with a bright yellow sign, warning that it was a 'POWER GENERATOR' and that it was for 'AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY.'  
Ignoring these warnings, Saffron dipped into a vent, and resurfaced on the other side of the heavily marked door.

After confirming that there was no one else inside the generator, Saffron returned to standard mobian size, and investigated the dark room as quietly as possible, before finding a large switch, with black and yellow striped borders, clearly warning people not to pull the lever. Saffron pulled it down anyway, and crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping she'd gotten the right switch.

It only took a moment's delay, before sirens started kicking in, and a voice over the intercom informed everyone that they were on emergency power reserves only. Saffron shrunk again, and left the room swiftly, not wanting to be caught. She placed a hand to her radio headset, and notified the others of her success.

"Excellent work!" Remington praised, slowly edging out from the hiding spot he and the others had been occupying. "Now just hang tight, we're coming in."

However, before any of them could make a run for it, yet another missile shot at them. Metal Knuckles again. The deranged badnik stood before them, a metallic, red surface reflecting the white streaks of lighting that now painted the blank canvas of the empty, grey sky.

"I've got this!" Lara decided, acting fast and using chaos control to stop the robot's onslaught of missiles in midair. "You go in, I'll see if I can catch you up later!" 

"Ok! Be safe!" Remington called, as he, Knuckles and Sally, along with Nicole currently safely within her handheld, charged towards the facility. 

Lara-Su stood her ground, holding the masses of missiles in midair. Picking up and moving things with chaos control was a trick she'd learnt long ago, though it was usually used for restraining a pair of super speedy twins, determined to cause as much havoc as they could whilst their parents were out, not holding off a wall of explosives, which lead her to the point of what to do with the tons of explosives that were suspended mid flight? 

The guardian cursed herself for acting on impulse, trying to think quickly and formulate a plan. Metal Knuckles was too close for her to throw the missiles back at him without her getting hit too, so the only other place she could really send them was….  
Raising her hands above her head, Lara-Su sent the missiles rocketing upwards, high, high above her, before releasing her grip on them. The explosives blew up instantly, creating a sight not unlike a very disappointing fireworks display. 

Taking her opportunity whilst the robot was distracted, Lara punched the robotic duplicate of her future father, the punch coming out a bit stronger than usual, thanks to an after effect of having just used chaos control, her hand still engulfed in a thin aura. The badnik fell back with a metallic screech, like nails on a chalkboard, before charging at Lara-Su.   
________________________________________

Remington led the operation, sneaking through the Legion's base, Sally and Knuckles following closely behind him. The combination of it being quite a dark and dreary day and the power and light being out made the building exceptionally dark, which was good in some respects, as it made sneaking in much easier, but it also put everyone on very high alert. Meaning that when Sally felt a hand grasp her shoulder, she spun into a defensive position, ready to attack in record time.

"I'm sorry!" A small voice hissed through the darkness. "It's just me!" The now normal sized Saffron Bee's face became visible as Sally's eyes adjusted to the dim light. 

Sally let out a sigh of relief, “I’m so sorry Saffron, are you alright? I’m always on guard with this stuff." 

“I’m ok, Princess, just a little spooked.” Saffron confirmed, breathing out with a heavy sigh, calming herself.

Sally nodded, and the group resumed their stealth mission, following Nicole’s map, the glowing green screen their only guidance through the unfamiliar location. After another minute or so, Nicole told them that they’d reached the prisoners, but all that anyone could see was a heavy, steel door, blocking their way. 

“Nicole, can you please see if you can find a way to bypass or unlock this door,” Sally instructed quietly, before being interrupted by Knuckles.

“We don’t have time for that!” 

“Then what do you propose we do?” Sally questioned challengingly, motioning to the heavy door that blocked their path. 

“This.” 

Taking out his spiked fist, Knuckles walked up to the obstructing door, and punched it down with a deafening clang. As it fell to the floor, there were several shrieks and a lot of murmuring from behind it. Knuckles looked at the scene before him. No one seemed hurt so far, but everyone seemed in very low spirits, not to mention the awful conditions the echidnas of Albion were being kept in. Far too many people packed into a much too small room.

“Knuckles!” One voice stood out amongst the rest to Knuckles, belonging to a red echidna, in a yellow dress. 

“Mum!” Unable to push his way through the jam-packed crowd of echidnas, Knuckles simply resorted to a friendly, somewhat awkward wave. Sally, Saffron, and Remington came and joined Knuckles, all looking equally as appalled by the sheer amount of people that had managed to be squashed into one small room.

“Listen up!” Remington called for everyone’s attention, and surprisingly managed to get it quite quickly. “We’re going to get you all out of here, but I’m going to need everyone’s help to do so. I want everyone who’s healthy and capable to pair up with someone who’s ill, injured, too young, or too old. Watch each other’s backs, and everyone try to stay together as a group.” 

As the echidnas got to doing that, the ground shook a little, and something that sounded a little like a roar could be heard. 

“What was that…” Saffron pondered. 

“Nothing we need to worry about,” Knuckles assured. “I’m sure Sonic and the others will deal with whatever that thing was.” 

_______________________________________________________________

“What in Aurora’s name is that thing!?” Julie-Su shouted, as a titanic, robotic figure appeared on the horizon, making an endless cacophony of noise. The echidna thrust another punch at Lien-Da. “What have you brought this time!? Was that cheap imitation of Knuckles not enough for you?” 

“This has nothing to do with me!” Lien-Da spat viciously, “Why do you blame everything on the Legion?” 

Before Julie-Su could give her bitter reply, Lien-Da finished listening in to a call, presumably from another legionnaire, her face contorting into an expression of rage.   
“We’ll finish this some other time. I have work to do.”

The half sisters ran off in opposite directions, Lien-Da to sort out the matter of the escaping prisoners, and Julie-Su to go and help Sonic. The robian had very nearly regained full control of himself, and was currently struggling to his feet, slipping slightly in the dirt, “Sonic, are you alright?” He was about to lift his hand to signal he was ok until his footing slipped in some mud.

“C’mere,” the echidna offered the robian a helping hand, taking advantage of the strength in her cybernetic arm to pull the otherwise quite heavy robot upright. “Terrible day for a battle, isn’t it?” She stared at her own mud covered body, green boots unrecognizable through all the muck, then back at the thing in the distance, growing closer and closer. 

Sonic thought he recognised the oncomer as Titan Metal Sonic, but that was impossible, surely? For one thing, it made no sense for Lien-Da to not be connected to the robot, both of them being associates of Eggman, and, more importantly, the robot had been destroyed. 

“Guess we should go do something about that robot, shouldn’t we?” Julie-Su sounded tired, but there was also something about her tone of voice that made Sonic think that telling her to rest would probably be futile. So instead of trying to deter the echidna, he just gave her a thumbs-up, agreeing that the robot needed sorting out. 

“You’ve been pretty quiet today,” Julie-Su remarked as they ran towards their foe, water now pelting down heavily from above. “Any reason for that?”

_“Would you prefer it if I was just making these noises the whole time?”_ Sonic beeped sarcastically. 

Lacking the same amount of internal cybernetics in her head as Lien-Da, Julie-Su only heard a collection of beeps and other nonsensical synthesised sounds, though knowing Sonic, and judging by the emotion his eyes were displaying, she could make an educated guess as to what Sonic said, “Point taken.” 

The duo raced in the direction of Titan Metal Sonic, finding it easy to catch the robot up, due to its large size giving it a relatively low speed. The massive mechanical monster was indeed the robot that Naugus and Bunnie fought weeks ago, but it looked incomplete. The robot’s body bore massive holes, each one lined with grass green crystals where Naugus fought it, and thick, ropey vines tangled around every nook and cranny of the husk that was once a complete robot, entirely ensnaring it. 

**‘Krudzu!’**

**_‘What?’_** Bot questioned Pre’s spontaneous comment. 

**‘It’s this plant thing that Eggman made. It takes over other robots, like a weird parasyte.’** Pre recalled.

Sonic made a mental note of the Krudzu's abilities, hoping that it would stay in Titan Metal Sonic, and not decide it wanted a new host. He really did not like the idea of having that thing take him over.

As the robian and echidna approached the giant robot, they both noticed that it was already being attacked.

"Awww, come on!" A voice, familiar to Sonic, but not to Julie-Su, moaned. "Spotted again! The director’s going to kill me!" 

Shard dropped down to the ground with a wet splat, landing in front of Sonic and Julie-Su. "Hey guys. Fancy seeing you here."

"Do I know you…?" Julie-Su asked the black and yellow robot.

"No, but I know Sonic," Shard informed. "And I do know who you are, even if we haven't met." Noticing that Julie's grip on her weapon tightened a little after that last remark Shard quickly clarified. "Only because you're part of the Chaotix. I don't know too much, that'd be weird!"

_"So what brings you here?"_ Sonic inquired, genuinely considering the possibility that the robotic hedgehog was following him for a minute, with how often they'd been bumping into each other this week. 

"Oh you know, beating up old Eggman robots, trying not to be seen. Just your typical Monday morning. Woah!" Shard lept into flight as he narrowly dodged one of Titan Metal Sonic's mighty iron claws. "All this chit-chat is nice, but how about we save it for after we've defeated this thing, yeah?"

"Good idea," Julie looked for somewhere to fire a shot, but not finding an easy place to hit. 

"You're probably going to want to get higher up to do that," Shard hovered down next to her. "Grab on?" 

The echidna grabbed the robot's one hand, the other one being replaced with a cannon, in a manner similar to how she'd seen Sonic and Tails fly before. Sonic meanwhile, wondered how he was going to get up to that level. Hadn't he had some kind of boosters that allowed him to hover in the past? On cue, Sonic's feet lifted a few centimetres off the ground, as the boosters he'd been thinking of returned.

Slightly shakily ascending upwards, Sonic joined his friends in the fight.   
_________________________________________________

Pre was not supposed to leave his position when Bot was doing something important, he knew that. The manifestation of half of Sonic's mind (Chaos, it did not feel right to call himself that), had decided to sit and watch everything that went down in the 'real world' on the massive screen that appeared in this digital mindscape, so he could offer Bot help and guidance, seeing as Pre was the half with most of the memories. 

But at the mention of the jet boosters, something odd happened.   
Pre could feel another presence in the mindscape, and that prompted him to investigate. Wandering around the place, Pre noticed he could hear tiny whispers, saying things he couldn't make out, causing the hedgehog's spines to bristle with nerves, putting him on edge. Popping his head around a corner, Pre's eyes widened.

In that one corner were thousands upon thousands of tiny, glowing white dots, each one individually no bigger than a grain of sand, but when bunched together, they formed a huge bright blob, appearing to pulse as each individual dot scrambled in a different direction. 

_'He's found us….'_

A nasty hissing voice emitted from somewhere in that blob, and Pre recoiled as it slowly began inching towards him. Before those **things** all leapt up, engulfing Pre's muzzle in their neon haze. 

_'Stay quiet. We're acting tomorrow, and we wouldn't want you telling your other self, would we?'_

The tiny creatures removed themselves from Pre's muzzle, before the entire blob melted into the floor with a noise like a steam engine, leaving the hedgehog alone. 

Stay quiet? Yeah, right. Pre was going straight to Bot and telling him about this. The hedgehog tried to snark something, but weirdly, no sound came out. He tried again. No sound still. Finding this strange, Pre cautiously placed a hand on his muzzle feeling out where his mouth waaaaaa-

Pre's grabs at his face became increasingly more frantic. His muzzle was so smooth, unnaturally so. The hedgehog tried to open his mouth. Nothing happened.

Internally, Pre screamed. Externally, his smooth, mouthless face remained completely still.  
________________________________________________

"Keep running!!" Sally yelled over the sound of all the panicking that was being done behind her. The arrival of Grand Master Lien-Da had set everyone into a state of tension, and it was a miracle that this whole operation hadn't turned to complete carnage. "Just focus on getting out of here!" 

"Getting out of here?" Remington protested. "We can't leave Albion! We can't let the Legion take our home!"

"Not permanently!" Sally clarified. "But we need to regroup and rest, we're in no condition to fight them right now!" The chipmunk pressed a button on Nicole's handheld, and spoke into a small speaker at the bottom of it. "Team Fighters, Julie-Su, Lara, I need you to meet me where the old echidna city is, ASAP!"

____________________________________________

"Sorry Sal, me and Sonic are a little busy right now!" Julie-Su shouted into her communicator as she fired a barrage of lasers and blasts at the relentless robot.   
"This thing just won't die, will it!?" 

"Nope. No matter how much we damage it, it keeps going," Shard noted.

_"Maybe we should try destroying the parasyte plant thing instead of the robot?"_ Sonic suggested.

"The what now?" Shard asked.

_"I think it's called a 'Krudzu'?"_ Bot waited for Pre to correct him, but he said nothing. _"Those vine things!"_

"Okie dokie!" Shard shrugged slightly. It wouldn't hurt to try destroying the plant, he supposed. "Sounds like a pla-"

"LOOK OUT!" The robots narrowly dodged Krudzu’s incoming attack, separating the group in the process.

All three fighters' heads turned to see two red echidnas fighting with each other in mid-air, speeding towards them like a bullet. Fed up with her clash with Metal Knuckles, Lara punched the robot off of her, sending it flying straight into Titan Metal Sonic's chest. 

There was a period of staring, before everyone managed to come to the same conclusion. Both robots were deactivated.

"That...was a very lucky shot…" Lara stared at both immobilised machines with a look of disbelief. 

"I'll say," Shard stood just behind Lara, who hadn't noticed the robot before, and jumped. Strangely enough, however, the echidna did not regard the robot with the same stunned shock in her pupils as others she'd met. "So, what do we do now?"

"Sally told us to go and meet her, and the other prisoners, so that's where I'm going," Julie-Su stated nonchalantly, her energy long burned out, but still powering on. 

Sonic followed too, wanting to do his best to protect his friends and others, something which he felt he hadn't been doing a particularly stellar job of today. His fight with Lien-Da had left him feeling like he needed to prove something. 

Lara-Su ran a hand through her bangs, trying to catch her breath, before following her teammates. She too was beginning to feel worn out, but she couldn't possibly give in now. She had to restore her future.

Shard did not follow the others. If 4 or 5 people knowing he existed was pushing it with the director, a Grand Master, the Egg Legion, the citizens of Albion, and some others all knowing about the robotic hedgehog's existence would definitely not be ideal, so the robot took off in the opposite direction to the other three, waving as he went, and explaining that he had something important to be getting to.

The odd trio of Julie-Su, Sonic and Lara motored onwards, headed right for where Sally and the others were all standing their ground, a crowd of legionaries standing opposite them, locked in a tense state. Sonic went and caught back up with Tails and Amy, now done with their property damage. Distractions were kind of useless when the enemy already knew where you were. 

Julie-Su stood side by side with Sally at the very front of the group, the chipmunk assuring the echidna that they wouldn't let the Legion recapture anyone. A lightning bolt lit up the ruined city, followed by a loud clap of thunder. Was it just the atmosphere getting to Sonic, or was the ground beginning to shake? 

He pressed his hand to the ground. No, that was definitely shaking. Another tremor, only a week and a half apart from the last one? Was this normal for Mobius? The ground shuddered more and more, catching people off guard, echidnas and legionnaires alike.

"Lien-Da. Status report." A faint voice could be heard, crackling with radio static through the Grand Master's cybernetic. 

"The prisoners have escaped, Doctor," Lien-da muttered. "I'm recapturing them as they speak. There's also a minor tremor."

"There is? Perfect. Get your troops back to your usual location, and come to the Death Egg. We've got work to do."

"But Doctor, the e-"

"My finger's right on top of the detonate button Lien-Da," Eggman cooed mockingly. "We've got more important matters to deal with."

The red echidna looked like she might've exploded from sheer rage, never mind the bombs planted inside her, and glared at the rag-tag group of survivors opposing her in pure silence for a long ten seconds, before crying out for her troops to retreat. Julie-Su watched them go, mouth twisted into a bitter snarl, fingers tightly wrapped around her proton gun, looking ready to pull the trigger at any second. Sally placed a hand gently on the former legoinaire’s shoulder, and quietly convinced her to stand down. This fight would be fought, but another day, when they weren’t all extremely tired, and had to use whatever energy they had left to rebuild the settlement. Or, at least rebuild it enough so the echidnas had somewhere safe and sheltered to rest tonight.

Thankfully, Sonic was a massive help, not abiding by organic stamina rules, and bearing increased strength in his new form. The robian carried massive planks of wood and heaps upon heaps of roofing tiles to those who were building, and gathered up the pieces of the tornado so Tails could rebuild it all through the morning, and kept going right into the afternoon, when the time to leave eventually came. 

“Well, the Chaotix and I need to go back to Angel Island,” Knuckles explained, opening up a warp ring. “Though I’ll probably see you all soon, with all the craziness going on right now. That, and I want to have a sparring match with Sonic in his new form, if he’s up to it.”

“I second that,” Julie-Su agreed. You’re stronger now.”

Sonic looked to his friends for guidance, but didn’t get too much of a response. Bot then tried asking Pre, but like all afternoon, Pre had been quiet. Bot couldn’t help but think that Pre was ignoring him, ashamed by their shoddy performance against Grand Master Lien-Da. So maybe some sparring matches wouldn’t hurt? Bot wanted to get better at fighting. 

Sonic offered the two echidnas a meek thumbs up. He’d consider it. 

“I need to go too,” Lara stated. “I have to check that things are alright in my own time. CHAOS-”

“Wait a minute, your own what now?!” Saffron exclaimed, but it was already too late.

“CONTROL!”

Then she was gone from the muddy terrain, and was back in the castle, 30 years into an alternate future, King Sonic excitedly congratulating her. 

“Guess that’s our cue too, right?” Sally headed for the Tornado.

Sonic nodded. After a hell of a day, all he wanted to do right now was sit in Freedom HQ, and do nothing. He watched the others make their final goodbyes, and then they were off.


	11. Butterflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something attacks Sonic

As the robian had said, the second he got back to Freedom HQ, he sat down, and he did nothing. A whole lot of nothing. Well, as much nothing as Sonic could possibly do, which was about five minutes worth. 

Thankfully, Shard had unexpectedly come knocking on the door and upon seeing the robian covered in mud and some dents, he gave Sonic a sympathetic smirk, "Boy, after a day like that you need a good hose down, buff and what, huh?" Sonic looked over himself and looked to Shard with a sheepish smile, noticing all the filth. He hadn't really considered not being able to use conventional cleaning methods like a shower yet.

_"Do you have a hose then?"_

"Of course I do!" Shard replied with a grin. "We might have to go outside though, Nicole would disassemble us if we got it all wet in here, wouldn't she?" The bot ushered Sonic outside, doing his best not to laugh in the process.

Sonic stood, feeling pretty awkward, wondering when Shard would arrive with his hose. 

A loud noise sounded from behind Sonic, as a strong jet of water collided with the metal exterior of his spines. He turned to face Shard, who was standing at a distance, water dripping from his cannon arm. 

"Told you I had a hose!" Shard said with a grin, spraying Sonic again. The mud that had clogged up and dried in the parts where the grey tubes of his arms and legs joined to the bulkier blue parts of his limbs washed out.

It felt good, his joints becoming easier to move, and feeling more hygienic, even though mobian hygiene didn't really apply to robians. It just felt natural to him he guessed, probably because he still wasn't used to being a robot. Maybe he never would be.

"Shard, what're you doing?" Nicole's voice snapped Sonic back to reality. 

_"Helping me get the mud off,"_ Sonic explained innocently.

"Oh my- You idiot!" Nicole repressed her urge to laugh, before scolding the robot. "Sonic, we have regular showers in Freedom HQ, you can use those without a problem, if you're still muddy."

"Man, how come your other half didn't say anything to you?" Shard laughed. "Was he in on it!? Bet he was in on it!"

_"My...what?"_ Sonic asked, suddenly finding his head to be feeling a bit foggy.

"Pre? That guy we found in the digital world? Told us about the Krudzu?" Shard recalled the hedgehog.

_"Who?"_ Sonic repeated his question.

Shard elbowed Nicole, talking to her about something Sonic couldn't hear.

"Ok, ha ha, very funny," Shard said sarcastically. "I prank you, you prank me, that's fair."

_"I'm not pranking. Who's 'Pre'?"_

"Sonic…?" Nicole fiddled with her hands nervously. "This isn't funny…"

_"I swear from the bottom of my heart that I have no idea what you're talking about."_ Sonic promised, and he meant it. Pre? Who was Pre? Chaos, he felt strange, like he was being pulled backwards. The world zoomed out rapidly, sending him onto a dark room with a big screen in the wall, and suddenly he remembered who Pre was, because the hedgehog was standing right next to him.

_"What's going on!?"_ Bot asked. In reply, Pre did nothing but point to his face, lacking a mouth. Bot was about to ask another question, about what happened to the hedgehog's mouth, before realising that would he a stupid thing to do. Instead, the cyborg leaned forwards, and hugged the now mute hedgehog, hoping to be of at least some comfort to him. His double returned the hug after a few seconds, not really sure what else there was for him to do.

Bot broke the hug and asked, _"Is there any way you could try and tell me what happened?"_

Pre shook his head.

Bot turned his gaze to the screen, looking at the outside world, _"Hey, wait a minute! We're moving! But then...Who's in control!?"_ The two hedgehog’s gave each other a concerned and worried look. Who, or what, could possibly be controlling Sonic?  
_________________________________________________________

"Sonic, bud, you doing ok?" Shard waved his hand in front of Sonic's face. "You just randomly zoned out there!" 

Sonic didn't reply, fully red eyes staring at Shard, glowing bright. He was still as a statue at first glance, besides his arm, which was slowly reforming itself into a cannon again.. Nicole glanced between the two, concern plaguing her face, “Shard… I need you to back away from him.”

"Why...WOAH THERE!" Shard complied with Nicole's command once a lazer blast nearly shattered his power gem, "What's going on with you, Sonic? First you forget half of yourself again, and now you're shooting at me!? What gives!?" The robian gave no reply, merely preparing to shoot again. Nicole ushered Shard back into Freedom HQ, and forced the doors to shut, and lock themselves as tight as possible, "What's his deal!?" Shard asked, leaning against the door to help keep it shut.

"I don't know!" Nicole replied, looking stressed, hands slipping through her thick black hair.

"Don't tell me that Bot was secretly evil the whole time, and now we've got an angry badnik on our tails?" Shard groaned.

"No…" Nicole shook her head. "That can't be the case; I analysed Bot thoroughly, and he was nearly entirely made from parts of Sonic, the badnik programming was so deeply buried that it might as well have not existed…"

"Well then who's pulling the strings if it's not Eggman?" Shard retorted, still fixed on the idea that the mad scientist must have some involvement. 

"I don't know! But let's focus on stopping Sonic now, then worry about the 'who' later!"

"Great idea! One question though," Shard continued to hold the door, as Sonic relentlessly rammed himself into it, attempting to get in. "How?"

"His heart! Force him to push it too hard, and it'll paralyse him, and hopefully knock him out!" Nicole explained, hoping Shard would catch on. 

"So you want me to go fight and challenge him?" Shard checked. "Just like old times…" A small part of him missed having a rivalry with Sonic. Their races had always been fun, the only part of his days as Metal Sonic that he could bear to look back on with fondness.

Shard let go of the door, and dashed outside, speeding past Sonic, and making him reorient himself to keep his eyes on his black and yellow opposition.

"Come on bolt brain, I'm over here!" Shard taunted. Sonic fired another blast at him, which Shard dodged perfectly. He wasn't going to say it out loud, but grinding Sonic's gears was kind of fun, even if it was risky. “What? Don’t think you’re fast enough to catch me.” The Robian, at this statement, started charging the robot. Shard sped off while looking behind him, “Yep! That’ll do it!”

Shard blasted off at top speed, grinning wider when he noticed Sonic following. This was going to be a piece of cake, “Talk about ‘turning the tables’.” He called back at Sonic. He didn't know if the robian could actually hear him in his current state of mind, or if his taunts were actually doing anything, but he kept going regardless. 

"Hey, Shard-," Shard recognised the voice of Silver, but kept racing, ignoring the white hedgehog, who in turn sighed in annoyance, and flew after Shard. "Shard, you're needed! We've been trying to contact you and Nicole all morning, what's happening?"

"See for yourself!" Shard gestured back at Sonic, quickly catching up to them.

"I don't understand, what's- Argh!" Silver moved at the very last second, as a laser blast very nearly took his quills off. "What's gotten into him?"

"Not sure yet. Thought we'd try to stop him from destroying us before worrying about all that," Shard explained. "I was going to have him run until he eventually paralysed himself, but now that you're here, I've got a better idea!"

"What's that?"

"Your powers screw with tech, right? So just grab him and we'll be all set to take him back to Nicole!"

Silver looked at Shard as if he was crazy, “We don’t know how bad my powers can affect him!”

“It’s either this or trying to out run that,” Shard ducked as another laser shot by, “besides, all we have to do is wait until he shuts down.”

"All right, but don't blame me if something goes wrong!" 

The physic reached out with his mind, and grabbed the relentlessly pursuing robian, freezing him in place. Sonic's limbs twitched, his eyes flickered, and the arm cannon turned back into a normal arm. He slumped over, and Silver let him go, the now powered down robian unable to stand.

"Do you think that fixed him?" Silver inquired, descending from his flight to investigate.

"I don't think so," Shard speculated. "That was too easy. But now he's not trying to kill us, we can get a look at him, and see what happened to him."

Silver nodded, and lifted Sonic with his mind again, safely carrying him back to Freedom HQ, now that he was harmless. Nicole greeted Silver hastily, before securing Sonic in the Freedom HQ lab, taking precautions, so that if he came back on again, he couldn't do too much.

“How did this happen? Why did he just suddenly start attacking like that?” Silver asked, “Was he just a spy for Eggman?”

Shard shook his head, “No, Nicole doesn’t think so at least. But that would make more sense, all things considered. I mean, the roboticizer just turns people into robots, not give them weapons and stuff. How is that even possible if Sonic wasn’t modified?”

"I've just been thinking," Nicole informed as she began taking a look at the robian. "Sir Charles mentioned something that happened a few days back when Sonic went to visit. He mentioned something about Sonic freaking out, and his arm becoming a cannon...There's definitely some kind of connection, there has to be."

"So do we know what caused that freak out?" Shard questioned.

"No," Nicole glanced at the immobile robian next to her. "Sonic wouldn't talk about it." 

"So it just happened randomly?" Silver somehow doubted that. "Nothing triggered it?"

"Apparently not. And even if something did, I can't really think of anything that could connect it to what happened today," Nicole said.

"Well, crap." Was Shard's only response. 

Nicole flipped open a panel on Sonic' neck, grabbed some cables, and plugged them up. A big screen lept into light, displaying various statistics and analytics, illuminating the room.

"Let's see what we've got here…"

___________________________________________

Inside the digital world, the duplicates were unconscious along with their body. They laid on the ground unaware of their surroundings, the mindscape dark and empty now that it had no power. 

Pre came to first, briefly feeling his face to see if his mouth had spontaneously come back. It had not. Bot came back second, the eyes of the cyborg-like form he took in the mindscape lighting up and illuminating the dark area as he did so. 

Pre sat on his knees in front of where the screen had once been, whilst Pre sat next to him, looking in the opposite direction at the lifeless void in front of him. Well, nearly lifeless. A small blue spec was bobbing up and down in the distance, the only light in the pitch black before him. The cyborg got to his feet, and ran at the little blue light, wondering what it was. The light started coming towards him too, and landed on Bot's nose. The hedgehog's eyes crossed, and he looked down to see another blue butterfly, like the one he'd seen before.

Bot looked further into the darkness, and caught a glimpse of thousands of blue specs, all slowly growing closer to him, revealing themselves all to be butterflies.   
By now, Pre had noticed them, and walked over to Bot, surveying them with curious green eyes. A few of them flapped over to him, landing on his ears and in his spines. One of them hovered in front of his face, before placing a tiny, stick-like leg on his muzzle, which split open, growing a mouth.

"Ahh...Aaah…" Pre could only manage to make noises after being silent for so long.

Bot tilted his head, _“Are they…. are they giving your mouth back?”_ Pre lifted a finger as if to say wait. A few seconds later the butterfly flew off Pre’s face. His mouth had returned.

After opening and closing his mouth a few times, the hedgehog sighed in relief, “Oh thank Chaos. That was the worst experience of my life!” He looked at the butterflies around them with round, curious eyes. "What are these things?" 

_"I'm not sure. They seem friendly though!"_ Bot got about as close as he could to laughing, so caught up in bliss that he forgot about the situation in the physical world.   
_________________________________________________

"Hey...Nicole…? I don't mean to interrupt, but uh...Sonic's moving again…" Silver tapped the lynx's shoulder, trying to draw her attention to the struggling robian behind them, currently pinned down by Shard. 

"Try and hold him back for as long as you can!" Nicole instructed, sounding a little on the panicked side. "I think I've figured out what's going on here! Now I just need to see if I can purge them from his systems!"

"Them!?" Shard questioned as he grappled with Sonic. "Who's them?!"

"They're Nanites! I think, from what I'm seeing here, they were corrupted when Naugus used his crystal magic. Without a place to go, they latched onto the nearest host who just so happened to be Sonic." 

"So Naugus' controlling him? Great." Shard said sarcastically.

"He's not doing it on purpose, I don't think he even knows that he can corrupt nanites, but in a sense, yes." Nicole typed rapidly on a keyboard, trying to begin the purge. 

There was a loud crash as Silver was sent flying into a nearby wall. 

"You might want to hurry up, Nicole!" Shard urged.

"I'm trying, but even at its quickest, what I've put in place will take a while to be ready!" Nicole leapt away from the computer, and swerved towards Sonic, grabbing the robian's face in her hands, and staring directly into the dark screen that made up his eyes, "Sonic, Bot, Pre, whoever's in there, if you can hear me, please try and fight them for us!"

Sonic simply threw the lynx towards the ground, the force of which she collided with it causing the holo-lynx to become a glitchy, pixelated mess for a few seconds, freaking Silver out a little as he held onto his left arm, now sporting a magnificently large bruise.

"Come on, Blue…" Shard clenched his fist, looking at his friends behind some, one hurt, the other phasing in and out of existence, "Don't make me destroy you.."  
____________________________________________________

“Sooo,” Pre rubbed the back of his neck, trailing off as he stared back at the blank screen, “how do we get out of here?”

_"No idea,"_ Bot admitted. _"It won't let me take control, and I'm guessing it won't let you either."_

Pre shook his head. "It's like something's locking us out…" The hedgehog tapped his foot on the floor, then walked up to the screen and hit it, hard, before recoiling quickly.

_"What's wrong?"_

"The screen's not turned off at all, it's just….covered by something," he examined it again. "And that something is alive…"

Bot looked closer. The surface of the screen did appear to be rippling upon closer inspection. Reaching out curiously to touch it, something attached itself to his hand. The cyborg screeched as a thick black centipede curled it's way around his hand, spindly legs digging into his palm. The insect glowed a bright white, and Bot's hand vanished, leaving the insect to fall to the floor and scuttle away.

A butterfly landed on the stump of Bot's arm, and his hand returned quickly.

"You know, when someone told me my computer had a bug, I didn't think this is what they mean," Pre sniggered.

_"I should have left you in those wires,"_ Bot groaned at the awful joke.

“But you didn’t,” Pre pointed out.

_“Anyway,”_ Bot said, changing the subject, _“what was that thing?”_

“Well….Mm, maybe since it deleted your hand,” he pointed to the butterflies chilling on Bot’s quills, “maybe it’s like those things, except I don’t know, opposite?”

_"One creates, one destroys?"_

"That's my current theory," Pre confirmed. Emerald green eyes examined the wall of insects, blocking the screen. "Now, the question is, how do we deal with this?"

_"I'm not sure...it doesn't really seem like we can touch them, does it…?"_ Bot flexed the fingers on the hand that had previously been deleted uncertainly.

"Hmm...how about we make a plan…?"

They didn't have any time to think of any plans however, because something was changing. The surface of the screen was beginning to ripple more and more, and little cracks of the outside were beginning to show from underneath the great, dark mass of squirming, insect like creatures, until they were no longer individuals, but had rather all merged together.

The form was huge, it towered over Pre and Bot with ease. A long, dark creature, resembling some kind of mutant centipede. Long, spindly legs lifted it off the ground, revealing a glowing white underbelly, and a bright white goop dripped off of massive pincers on its face. The two hedgehogs took a few steps back, eyes wide as they gazed up at the monster before them. 

“So,” Pre started for a second, “......Yeah, I got no quips, this is terrifying.”

_"If we can't touch it, what are we going to do?"_ Pre looked to Bot for suggestions. _"I don't have any long range attacks, do you?"_

Pre shook his head, "I got nothing in here. I can acsess any chaos energy, and even then, it's not my specialty."

The butterflies resting in Bot's quills fluttered out, and upwards, into the sky. Not far behind from those, thousands of blue butterflies followed suit. Pre craned his neck, following the creatures movements as they spiralled upwards into a swirling haze of bright blue, dazzling in the otherwise dark void the mindscape had become. As they got closer together, their wings started not only to touch, but also to connect, the mass of delicate insects becoming one. A giant blue butterfly.

"Please wake me up, I'm done with this dream," Pre muttered, staring in disbelief at the massive insects before him. 

_"I don't think this is a dream, we can’t sleep,”_ Bot pointed out, to which Pre could only facepalm.

“I...nevermind…” the hedgehog sighed in dismay. “What do you think we should do now?” He looked over at the two colossal insects, now engaged in fighting each other. The large beasts let out loud sounds that made the two cover their ears, as the giant butterfly charged at the slithering centipede with a swift swoop.

Bot looked to the screen, now uncovered, seeing a scene of Shard desperately trying to grapple with him, with Nicole helping Silver to his feet behind them, _"We have to try and regain control!"_

"Ohhhh-kay, that's usually your speciality," Pre reminded. "I haven't really been the one doing the driving, save that one time right after you first got me back, and that was an accident."

_"True,"_ Bot agreed. _"You know we should really sort that out one day, maybe tomorrow if there's ti-"_ Bot didn't get the chance to finish, because Pre shoved him to the ground as a large black polygon with bright white edges came hurtling through the air, and shattered into millions of tiny, sharp fragments where Bot had just stood.

"Focus!" Pre exclaimed. "Anyways, yeah, taking control, how do we...or you I guess do that?" 

_"Usually it's just a mental thing, I just try and it sort of...happens!"_ Pre explained. _"But there's something locking me out, some kind of barrier…"_

"Is there any way to bypass it?"

_"I can try!"_

Bot got to work on trying to take back Sonic's body, whilst Pre watched his back, knocking any low-lying debris back at the horrific centipede thing with a strong kick. It was a weird sight to behold, that fight, as two oversized bugs wrestled with one another, their forms constantly changing as part of them was destroyed, then put back together. It seemed to be an endless, looping cycle, where no one could really win from Pre's point of view, and he wished that he could do more than just kick the odd dislodged polygon back, doing an unfortunately piddly amount of damage. He looked back at the screen, hoping that maybe one of his friends had a plan, then at Bot, silently wishing him the best of luck with trying to break through that barrier. He didn't say it out loud for fear of the wrong ears hearing what they were trying to do, and also because there wasn't a massive need to. Being two halves of the same person, him and Bot tended to share thoughts and feelings without verbally communicating them.

Still looking at Nicole, Shard and Silver through the barely visible screen, he wished them luck too. It was weird how he felt about Shard and Silver, Pre had every right to feel resentful of them, but Bot's differing feelings and memories towards them rendered him incapable of doing so, after the two had saved his life. Well, regardless of how he personally felt towards them, right now he knew Sonic was relying on them, and hoped they had something up their sleeves.  
_____________________________________________________________

"Nicole, how's that neutraliser program thingy coming along!?" Shard yelled, as he jumped over the top of the rampaging robian's head, and landed behind him, avoiding the lazer shots. 

"45 seconds to go!" Nicole informed them. "Just try and hold on for a little longer!" 

"Damn," Shard cursed. It sounded like a short amount of time, but it was definitely still long enough for Sonic to get an opportunity, and destroy something vital. He tackled the robian, pinning him down, and making sure to secure the cannon arm, watching the numbers on the computer screen tick down. 30 seconds left. 

In response to being held down, the nanites formed a large spike on Sonic's chest, that shot upwards into Shard's torso, a mere millimeter away from the large red gem set into the former badnik's chest area. Shard rolled over, so that Sonic was above him instead of underneath him, and then caught his feet in the ridges where Sonic's upper and lower legs met. Now with a good grip, Shard sent Sonic flying to the other side of the room with a large amount of force. Sparking cables poked through the hole in Shard's chest. He fumbled with his hands, trying to feel his way to his power gem that could make his auto-repair kick in, as he didn't want to take his eyes off of Sonic. 10 seconds left. 

Sonic righted himself, getting up from the remains of a smashed table, the spike on his chest disappearing. His cannon arm was aimed at the computer, and Shard was powerless to stop it, his repairs not yet finished. 5 seconds left. A blinding shot from cyan light filled the room, headed right for the computer. Without thinking, Silver scrambled up from where he'd been lying in a dazed state of mind, and thrust himself forwards, putting himself between the beam and the computer. It hit the back of his head, hard, and its force caused Silver to smash his face onto the desk in front of the computer. A pool of blood spilled out from under his face. Sonic reloaded the cannon, and then-

"Neutraliser online," Nicole announced. "Process beginning now."

Sonic stopped, dead in his tracks, eyes turned off. Lacking an efficient auto-repair like Shard, the robian looked more like a sculpture made from scrap metal than anything else right now. A crushing silence swallowed the room now that the panic was over.

Shard rushed over to Silver, able to examine the injured organic now that his wires were all back in the right place. A large burn mark had appeared on the back of his head, horribly noticeable against the hedgehog's otherwise snow coloured spines. Shard gently lifted the hedgehog's face off the desk, needing to inspect it. Thankfully, the blood was simply a severe nosebleed, and though Shard guessed Silver's face probably hurt, no permanent damage had been done. The burn might leave a scar, but they'd have to wait and see on that.

Nicole had managed to stabilise her form too, becoming less glitchy and transparent, her full body coming into view once more. "Shard, can you go and take Silver back to Secret HQ please? He needs medical attention."

Shard took the groaning hedgehog in his arms, carefully not to touch anything that was bashed up. "Ok, sure. But what about you?"

"I am going to stay here, and help Sonic."

"You sure?" Shard frowned. "What if he goes crazy again?"

"I'm not helpless," Nicole retorted. "If it comes to it, I have a way to deal with him."

"All right," Shard agreed. "Just promise me you'll be safe."

"Really?" Nicole asked, wondering if Shard was serious. When he didn't reply or crack any jokes, she realised he was. "Ok, I promise." 

"Good." And with that final word, Shard shot off with Silver curled safely in his arms.  
______________________________________________________________

"Neutraliser online. Process beginning now."

Nicole's voice echoed around the mindscape, announcing that her program had kicked in. The giant centipede froze in place, it's body beginning to crack, revealing a blue hue underneath it's dark shell. The monstrosity squirmed, and fought to keep itself together as its body cracked more and more, but it's efforts were in vain. Its body split into hundreds of tiny blue specs, too high up for either hedgehog to identify, though that would get easier as the specs fell. As they landed on the ground, Pre picked one up, observing it as it rested in his palm.

"It's a cocoon…" 

Bot was going to ask a question, but before he was able to, he was swept right back into the physical world, processors loudly telling him he was in need of repairs.  
_________________________________________________________

"Hello, Sonic," Nicole greeted the robian warmly as his power came back on. She sat beside him on a sofa in the lower part of Freedom HQ, (the lab was currently off limits until everything was tidied and repaired) Sonic lying next to her, "I suppose you're wondering what happened to you?" 

Sonic nodded, unable to muster a worded reply. "So. Those things that were controlling you, those were nanites. As you know, New Mobotropolis is built from them, but as you also know, Naugus' crystal magic can destroy them, and as we've now learned, corrupt them."

_"That day...that day I was roboticized...I went to go help Bunnie, and I went near the big crystals…"_ Sonic recalled.

"Yes," Nicole confirmed. "I think that a lot of nanites from in and around those crystals decided to latch on to you, wanting a host of some kind. I can't remove them from you, but I did test an experimental program I've been making to fix the nanites in the city on you, and hey, look at that, it worked!" 

_"So they're just always going to be inside me now…?"_

"Yes...I'm sorry." 

_"No it's ok, it might even be useful. I was actually thinking about how useful a long range attack would be earlier. I'm sure I can make some good out of this!"_

"That's the spirit," Nicole smiled. The lynx's ears stood up straight as she heard the sound of doors moving upstairs. "Oh! I think we have visitors!" She and Sonic headed back upstairs, where two yellow mobians stood, peering into the lab, who Sonic recognised as being Mina and Ash Mongoose respectively.

"What happened in there...It's a tip…" Ash questioned.

"Nevermind that! Look, there they are!" Mina pulled the black-haired mongoose away from the lab doors, and dashed over to Sonic and Nicole excitedly. 

"Umm...Hello Mina..?" Nicole greeted awkwardly, wondering why they were here.

"I've got really good news!" Mina hopped up and down excitedly. "You and Sonic are going to be allowed back into the city! Isn't that awesome!?"

"Oh, wow, yes it is!" Nicole's unsure face broke out into a smile. Sonic's digital eyes turned to green arches and he gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. 

"It's under, quote-unquote, 'monitored conditions though," Ash added. "Whatever that means." 

"Oh, don't be a downer, Ash!" Mina scolded. "to celebrate, I'm letting both of you come to my concert for free tomorrow!"

"I'd love to," Nicole accepted. "Can I invite Sally too?" 

"Sure, why not? She looks like she's been overworking herself lately, let's give her a break!" Mina agreed. 

Ash rolled his eyes, smirking, "Careful, or you're going to give the entirety of New Mobotropolis free tickets at this rate."

"Only those who deserve it!" Mina corrected. "I'd never give one to Naugus or any of his supporters! In fact, I think we should make them pay extra!" 

"Honestly, not a half bad idea," Ash grinned. "You did say you wanted to make a statement…"

Sonic watched them joke, just happy that he wasn't in exile anymore. That felt good. Pre asked Bot if he could practice walking on the way over, and Bot agreed. Pre also mentioned that there was something he should come and see inside the mindscape. Curious, Bot let himself slip into the digitised world.


	12. Calm before the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things escalate even more

They were cocoons, just like Pre said. Tiny, glowing, periwinkle blue cocoons, small enough to fit into the palm of Bot's hand. He set the one he was holding down gently, then went to go watch the screen. As him and Bot had realised, even though only one of them needed to be in control of the body at once, the other usually needed to watch and be present, or the other would start to become scatter-brained, as evidenced by how Bot somehow managed to straight up forget Pre existed when Pre was unable to relay thoughts and input back and forth with him.

Just another fantastic perk of being two halves of the same brain, Bot thought sarcastically. Nicole had offered to see if she could try and put them back together, but both Pre and Bot were unsure about that, and so had declined for now. 

The walk to New Mobotropolis was a lot slower than Sonic would’ve liked, with a lot more stumbles than he cared for. If not for his metallic face, the robian definitely would’ve been right red by now, feeling thoroughly embarrassed every time he fell. Mina and Nicole were encouraging and Ash was being surprisingly respectful for once but it didn’t make him feel much better, yet Pre continued to persevere, regardless of his flustered state. If other people (including Bot) could learn to get around fine with robotic limbs, then why couldn’t he? 

Sonic felt a little stabbing feeling in his heart. He wished Bunnie was here. Despite having her own limbs changed back to flesh and blood, he felt confident that she would’ve been able to help him with all this. She’d been gone for weeks now, and everyone was starting to get worried; Sonic just hoped that she was ok, wherever she was right now. Apparently Antoine's condition remained unchanged as well, he hoped he was doing ok too.

Sonic nearly fell over again whilst caught up in his thoughts, only to be caught by Nicole. He offered her an awkward-yet-grateful smile, and continued onwards, cursing on the inside. Everyone else made this whole 'being a robot' thing look so easy, but Pre just couldn't adjust. 

Everything just felt off.

His movements felt slow and heavy, lacking the agility he was accustomed to and every step feeling like he was trying to wade through an impossibly deep lake. His weight had changed, in turn making his balance unstable, which was not helping in the slightest. Even something as simple as putting a leg forwards was something that needed to be relearnt, trying to figure out how his new leg structure operated. He had a newfound sense of sympathy for a lot of people he knew now. And Chaos, he wished there was a way he could just go back to his old self, but outside of that being impossible, he shuddered to think what that would do to his split mind. Would Bot cease to exist, leaving him as an idiot, now only having half a brain, or would they just merge back into one? Pre tried not to think about it. If only they could have it both ways.

New Mobotropolis came into view, blanketed in a warm and inviting glow, thanks to the soft early morning sunlight. It somehow felt more like home now that Sonic was no longer sneaking in against his exile, but being allowed to return, as if it were inviting him back home. 

"The concert is this evening," Ash reminded as they drew closer. "It starts at 7:30, don't forget that. In the meanwhile just...go do whatever robots and holograms do, I guess."

"Have a nice day!" Mina added, much more cheery than her manager. Sonic nodded, and Nicole said goodbye to them, then to Sonic, explaining that she needed to talk with the council and then Sally about some things, and then they were gone, leaving Sonic alone.

Sonic decided he would go and see Tails, almost feeling like he'd been neglecting the fox for the past few days even though the robian had no control over his exile. With his mind now fully restored, Sonic was aware of the bond he and Tails shared; though not linked by blood (when Sonic had blood that was), they considered each other to be brothers and nearly everyone knew of and respected that. Another advantage of now having all of his brain back was that finding people when he needed to talk to them was much easier, so Sonic located the fox with ease.

Tails was tinkering with something, some small, round devices that Sonic could not guess the purpose of. Tails heard the robian enter his workspace as he tripped with a loud clatter, knocking over a rack of tools in the process.

"I thought you'd already figured out how to walk," Tails observed, sounding oddly passive aggressive. Sonic made a mental note to pick up everything he'd knocked over at some point.

He shakily picked himself up, “ _ No, that’s Bo- _ ,” Sonic facepalmed himself, “ _ Right, you can’t understand me. I keep forgetting that. _ ” It was a little soul crushing to tell the truth, the fact that there was now a language barrier between him and his little brother. 

"Wait here," Tails grabbed two of the round devices and put them in his ears. "Say that again." 

_ "I learned to walk, but now that I've got memories of what it was like before, it's...it's harder…"  _ Sonic explained, following an instinct to not mention his mind split. Not many people grasped the concept, so he tried not to mention it.

"It's because of him, isn't it?"

Sonic cocked his head in confusion,  _ "Him?"  _

"The badnik. The AI. Whatever you want to call him. He squandered your progress when he tried to take over your life, and now you're  **you** again, you've been sent back to square one." Tails sounded disappointed? It was hard to explain, but it felt off. 

_ "Tails, I don't understand…"  _ and it was the truth. Sonic couldn't figure out what on Mobius the fox was on about.

"Did no one tell you? Gosh, that's mean!" Tails said, shocked. "Well, for a week or two, you weren't really...you. Something else took over, an AI. Unfortunately none of us realised, we all thought you just had amnesia…"

Tails wasn't the only one who was shocked, Sonic was equally confused. Had Tails not been listening when he explained all this? Actually, that would make a bit of sense, seeing as he had been flying a plane when Sonic and Nicole talked about it and was pretty nonchalant afterwards.

_ "Tails...that's not what happened, Bot wasn't trying to take over my life...I didn't realise I was an AI myself, I'm...he's still here, I'm just a different part of the Sonic you know, he's a part of my mind, an isolated version of him at his core without the memories, persona, or confidence? Not that he's unkind, but he is a bit snarky and a prankster, you know?"  _ Two clear, whole sentences formed in Sonic's mind, but they didn't come out right, his split consciousness muddling both the statements together. 

"....Oh no…" Tails' ears drooped. "You're still broken...But that's ok! We're in my workshop right now, so just come up here," he patted his workbench affectionately, displaying a wide smile, "and I'll fix you up in no time! Then you can just be Sonic again!" 

_ "Tails...Please...no...I don't want to...you don't under- stop!"  _ Sonic's words deteriorated more, his mind becoming increasingly desynchronised, a side effect of his rush of emotions and the inexplicably unsettling atmosphere that was growing thicker and thicker as the conversation went more and more wrong. 

"Sonic, what's wrong….?" Tails asked, round eyes genuinely concerned and curious. "I just want to help you."

“ _ Bot! Let me handle this, chill _ !” Sonic waited for a second and then continued talking, “ _ Ok, so first off, Bot, is not a Badnik AI. I mean, sure, he was made when I got roboticized but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. He wasn’t trying to take over my life. _ ”

"Bot?" Tails frowned.

_ "When I got roboticized, something went wrong, I fell out of the Death Egg before it could fully finish and...well I guess the best way to put it is that I got split in half. There's who we're calling Pre, and then there's also Bot."  _

"Well, then I'll fix that! I'll put you back together!" There was something almost creepy about Tails upholding his chipper voice and attitude, freaking Sonic out a little. 

_ "No!"  _ Sonic stepped back. He couldn't explain why, but he didn't want to be put back together, even though his mind split was causing a (metaphorical) headache.

"It's clearly causing problems, you can barely make a proper sentence!" 

_ "I'm not usually like that, I just got panicked, I guess. Usually we're synchronised well, so much so that people can't even tell. Even I forget sometimes, because well...we are the same person, and not like in a clone way, I mean...have you ever sort of just talked to yourself in your head, or been indecisive and had a back and forth? Yeah, it's like that! I'm still Sonic, nothing has mentally changed, I'm not sharing a body with an imposter." _

Tails' mood seemed to drop, now avoiding looking at Sonic right in the eyes.

"But then...the badnik…"

_ "He's not here anymore, not in the way Eggman intended for him to be,"  _ Sonic thought for a second or two.  _ "Maybe, sometime, I'll show you. You can come and visit in the digital world, and all will be explained." _

"That'd be...good," Tails sighed, still avoiding Sonic's eyes. "I feel really stupid now…"

_ "You were just trying to help."  _ Sonic acknowledged. 

The two lingered in an uncomfortable state of avoiding each other's eyes, until eventually Sonic decided it was time to leave the fox to it for now, and headed for the way out.

"Wait! Before you go!" Tails called for Sonic, who turned around and backtracked to where the fox stood. "Take these." He dropped a pair of the round devices that he used to help understand Sonic into the robian's hand. Sonic accepted them and left his brother to his work. 

Hmmm...where to now? Sonic couldn't think of what to do now, was he supposed to be going somewhere? No that was later…wasn't it?

What was Bot doing?

Sonic found somewhere safe to sit, under a shady tree, before vanishing into his mind, as he'd figured out how to do thanks to the nanites (unintentionally) showing him how. The world melted away into the glowing reality of the mindscape. Bot was nowhere in sight in the digital world. Weird. Where could he be?

Pre wandered in deeper, a little bit worried. What if the nanites hadn't all been pacified and they'd taken him? He wanted to go look for him but he found himself just, not able to move himself. Not because of some Nanites making him unable to move. It was because… well, he was kinda scared of the digital world after what happened. If there were still some lingering nanites, he didn't want to risk losing control, and potentially hurting even more people than before, now that he was in the city. Pre tried taking a few steps but ended up backing away to the screen, thinking about the consequences of another takeover. What if he got him and Nicole got exiled? What if he couldn't be freed this time?

He groaned to himself, “I need some help,” he tapped his foot in frustration, “maybe Nicole could quickly help me out.” Pre felt himself slip back to the real world and wondered if Nicole was still with the council or doing something else,which meant he had to walk more and he wasn't ready for more public humiliation right now. Well, he had just told Tails he'd take him… “Alright, Tails will have to do for the moment.” Pre stood up and slowly made his way to Tails’ place. Very, slowly, it was killing him inside, still uncomfortable with his new form, and the superstitious glares that came with it. He really wished he could be invisible sometimes.

He rentered Tails' workspace in the Science Center, gently knocking on the door frame to let the fox know he was there. He ended up tripping on his own feet as he tried to step inside and face planted onto the floor,  _ "I need help! Not just with getting up!" _

“Hmm?” Tails got up from where he was sitting, and attempted to haul the fallen robot to his feet. “Chaos, you’re heavy…” Once he’d been pulled into at least a decent sitting position, Sonic was able to right himself on his own, using the door frame as support.

_ “I need help to...to...to investigate...investigate something? Someone?”  _ the robian's metal finger clicked as it tapped against his head.  _ “Part of my brain has gone, can you tell?” _

“It’s gone!? What happened!?” Tails cried, not understanding the full context.

_ “Oh, not permanently!”  _ Sonic assured, doing so for himself as well as Tails,  _ “he’s just...not here right now, and I don’t know why? And I need someone there to...well...I don’t want to have my body taken over by nanites again.” _

“So, you want me to…?”

_ “To come with me, into my mind. You can do that, right ? _

“Umm, sure. Let’s just go to the other room and we can see what to do about that?”

_________________________________________________________________________

“Doctor, the quakes are becoming more frequent on a worldwide scale,” Metal announced, after gathering reports from the Grand Masters. “And there are legionnaires and enforcers stationed in all the areas you requested. I should note that some of the Grand Masters decided to guard the specified areas themselves, as their bases were close enough to do so. Everyone is…” the former robot paused, replaying some nasty scenes in his head, “satisfied, with the enforcers and troops you have assigned them.”

“Good, good,” Eggman said passively, bored by this morning report. “Have I told you about your own position as an Enforcer yet?” 

“What?” Metal questioned, doing his best to conceal his outrage. ‘Enforcer’ was a newer title within the Legion, a rank given to those who were second in command to the Grand Masters. Was that really how weak Eggman thought him to be now? Demoting him to a right-hand man? ...At least it was better than being an errand boy.

“...I was not told about this.” 

Eggman wordlessly handed Metal a sheet of paper, briefing his mission. The hedgehog’s eyes scanned the words, his brows furrowing as he read. “Thunderbolt, Sir? Really?” Metal questioned Eggman’s choice in Grand Master. “But she’s new and...a bit crazy, to be honest with you.”

“Maybe so, but her loyalty is unquestionable,” Eggman explained. “Weirdly so…Now, before you go, is there anything else to report?”

“The new recruits you hired, Dr. Starline and Mr. Maw, have begun their investigation on a site of one of the quakes. They’ve found that some kind of gas appears to be emitted from the cracks every so often, coming from underground.” 

“Fascinating…” Eggman muttered, and for the first time he did seem genuinely interested in the conversation. “All right, you’re dismissed.” 

Metal turned away and scowled as he walked out of the room, despising Eggman at that moment. The whole ‘you’re organic now and that’ll mess with Sonic’ thing had backfired stupendously, and Metal really wished it’d never been done. It’d made him so weak, he constantly could be found lying in a heap in some random corridor, after his eyelids stopped working, and made him pass out. The inside of him kept making rumbling noises, loud and annoying. His eyes were broken too, they were always leaking, and there were big grey circles under them that he couldn’t make go away. And he was always so shaky, whether moving or not. All in all, it was safe to say he wasn’t feeling good.

"Metal, are you alright?" Metal's ears pricked at the sound of Orbot, the spherical red robot, accompanied by Cubot, the yellow cube robot who Orbot was rarely seen without. 

"Yeah, you look pretty upset!" Cubot added. Metal flushed red, and his ears pinned themselves down against his head. He didn't like to be seen as visually upset, but hey, just another perk of being organic, he thought sarcastically. 

"Nothing is wrong with me," Metal snapped. He marched onwards, down the long, straight corridor, ignoring the two robots. 

"I really think you ought to look after yourself," Orbot urged, trying to keep up with Metal, with Cubot trailing behind. "You might die if you keep up this self-destructive attitude…"

Metal snorted and averted his eyes from the worried robot, ignoring what he said. Death? Oh well, it's not like he was useful to anyone anymore. What happened to the useless robots? They got scrapped. So if he did end up 'dying', it would be no different. The hedgehog decided to change the subject. "Do you know how I can find Thunderbolt?"

"Oh, her?" Cubot asked, 'scratching' his head. Everyone in the Legion had heard of Thunderbolt, Grand Master for only a month and extremely dedicated to Eggman. While other Grand Masters worked for some personal motivation, Thunderbolt seemed to just be a dedicated follower, and it was whispered between legionnaires that Thunderbolt was only brought on to whip the others into shape and set an example. 

"I can provide directions for you," Orbot offered. "And I trust you know where to find transport."

__________________________________

"And with the press of this button, I should be able to enter your mind!" Tails said with a grin. Sonic signaled to say that he was ready, eager to escape his current situation. To enter the computer his brain had become, Tails had had to expose some panels and wiring, and plug some cables into the robian, and it was making him feel… uncomfortable to say the least. It was one thing to  **look** like you were made of metal, that didn’t bother Sonic too much anymore, having been temporarily robotisized for short periods of time in the past, but it was another to be opened up and see that he was all circuits and machinery on the inside. And the wires were reminding Pre of the endless amount of hours he spent trapped alone, not too long ago.

"And, in we go!" Tails announced, pressing on the button, and immediately being greeted with a very different landscape, “Whoa!” He looked around the digital forest, “This is your mind? This is so cool!”

“Yeah, the only thing killing the atmosphere is the giant screen behind u-,” Pre cut himself off as he turned his attention towards Tails…… oh boy.

Tails looked at Pre and gasped, “Whoa! You look like you’re Mobian in here!” He saw Pre was looking at him in awe, “What? What’s wrong?”

"You've uhh….you've got..one two three four... nine tails-" Pre continued to stare.

"What?" Tails turned around to get a look, and low and behold, it was true. The fox stared at them, unsure of what to think. "Why?" 

"I don't know, things and people just look really weird inside my mind, I guess," Pre guessed with a shrug. 

"Wait, your mind! We're in your mind! Maybe this has something to do with perception! Your perception!"

"Seems more like Bot's perception to me," Pre muttered. "I know you're not a kitsune, but I guess no one cleared that up for him."

"Huh. Well speaking of, that's the guy we have to find, right? The ba- The AI?" Tails asked.

"We're both technically AI, but sure. Let's go see where he's gotten to."

The two wandered around the landscape, Pre just looking for his other half, Tails more fascinated by all the little details. Studying the inner workings of someone's mind wasn't something you got the chance to do every day.

Pre readied himself for anything that might come at him, teeth firmly gritted as though he was afraid of losing them again, whilst Tails didn't seem on edge, the threat of the nanites overtaken by wonder and curiosity.

Thankfully, Bot had not been taken away, and was instead sat by the glassy pond hidden further back amongst Sonic's happy place. He was holding something very gently, something oval and covered in large dots.

"Bot!" Pre called to the cyborg-like hedgehog. Bot jumped in surprise and almost dropped whatever he was holding. He steadied himself and let out a sigh of relief. "What're you holding there?" 

_ "It's an egg,"  _ Bot stated, holding it carefully.  _ "I'm not sure what kind of egg, but I found it and I'm taking care of it."  _

Pre leaned in to look closer at the egg, "I think that's a Chao egg." 

_ "Chao?" _

"Yeah, you know. Like Cream and Dad have." Pre explained. Bot's eyes lit up with excitement, apparently thrilled at the idea that this egg contained a Chao. He hugged the egg a little more. 

_ "Do you know how to make it hatch?"  _

"Well you could just throw it at a wall," Pre suggested, only to be elbowed by Tails. "Alright, alright. It just takes patience, you have to keep it safe, and eventually it'll hatch."

_ "Alright! Thank you!" _ Bot turned away from them, and sat back down with the egg, acting as if the conversation had ended. 

"Wait a minute!" Pre exclaimed. "I need to ask you something! Why did you come back here in the first place? I need you up front, especially right now!"

_ "It was a bit awkward, listening in on what felt like a private conversation, so I left you to it." _

“But, we’re the same person. It was your conversation too.”

_ "Tails only wanted you,"  _ Bot explained quietly. His eyes were firmly set on the egg; the robian was completely avoiding looking at the other two.

"He just didn't understand," Pre said, kneeling down next to Bot. "He understands it all now, you can come back. And you can still look after the egg whilst you're at it!"

Bot's eyes shifted from Pre to Tails to the egg, weighing his options. "I'm sorry," Tails murmured, awkwardly fiddling with one of his many tails. "It's like he said I just...I didn't understand. I was thinking about it too logically I suppose. Thinking about where you'd come from, not who you are."

Round green eyes stared back at Tails, their owner not sure of what to think about the fox anymore.

"Come on," Pre stood up, keeping a hand gently on Bot's shoulder. "We've got places to be and things to be doing in the corporeal world."

Bot shook his head and held the egg close, “ _ No… I…. I just want to be alone for a bit…” _

“But-“

Bot cut him off,  _ “please, just leave me alone.” _

"You won't stay here forever, right? You'll come back later, won't you?" It was all Pre could ask.

_ "No, I...I'll stop invading your life now…"  _

" **My** life?" Pre echoed. "What do you mean, my life? It's your life too! I'm not any more Sonic than you are." 

_ "You've got all the memories. They're  _ **_your_ ** _ memories,  _ **_your_ ** _ friends,  _ **_your_ ** _ family. You know them, you've known them your whole life. They…"  _ Bot thought back to how upset everyone had been when he'd had no memories.  _ "They miss you."  _

"What? I still don't understand…" 

_ "I mean, what is a person but a bundle of memories and experiences anyway? It's you they want."  _

"What's gotten into you!?" Pre was beginning to feel genuine anger slipping into his voice, though he could not fully put to words why that was. “Why can’t you see that you’re needed and wanted!?”

_ “Only by you.” _

“Not only by me! When people say they want to be with Sonic, they don’t just want half of him! They want us, operating together to be the person we were, someone who was far more than just memories stuffed in a hedgehog shaped box. Yeah, so maybe I’ve got all the memories and the hero persona or whatever. But you’ve got the other part, the kind part, the compassionate part, the caring part. I’m nothing without you there.”

_ “Do you mean that?”  _

“Of course I mean that, why would I lie to you!?”

_ “Wow, I...I don’t really know what I was thinking but I just...I guess I took a big hit from what uhh…”  _ Green eyes flickered as they landed on Tails for a moment.  _ “From what was said to me.”  _

“I think you’re living proof that Sonic isn’t as confident as his persona lets on sometimes, Bud,” Pre smiled as he helped Bot up, the cyborg still clutching his egg tightly. “Now let’s go back. We wouldn’t want to miss that concert, would we, not when we were let in for free?” Bot let out a little laugh.

They walked back to the screen, Tails tagging behind nervously. He felt awful for causing this, and though he had apologized, he didn’t feel like it had sufficed. He didn’t have any more time to think about that however, because before he knew it, he was out in the physical world and he had fallen over whilst his mind was elsewhere, leaving in a painful heap on the floor.

The fox pulled himself up, ignoring the aches and pains that now troubled his body. "Hey, Sonic? Why do you call one of your halves 'Pre'? It's kind of a weird name." 

_ "I don't know,"  _ Sonic admitted after a pause.  _ "It just came about when we met and neither of us really questioned it. But it is weird, you're right…" _

"Well, why not change it?" Tails suggested. "If you think it's weird."

Sonic thought for a bit. Memory files popped up and played in his mind, lots of them from both recent times and the past. He was searching for nicknames and found that he had many, but there was one that nearly everyone had been using on him lately - Blue. It was simple, sure, but it clicked in his mind in an instant. Blue.

_ "His name is Blue,"  _ Sonic announced, the newly named AI satisfied with his choice. 

"Blue…? Ok." Tails muttered. "Nice to meet you, Blue!" 

_ "Thank you."  _ Sonic responded before setting off abruptly, going to leave the Science Center.  _ "See you later, Tails."  _

Now what should he do? Obviously there was a concert to be going to, but his internal clock and the colour of the sky told him he probably still had a little while to go before that. Maybe he'd just chill at his house? Yes, he decided, that sounded nice. Sonic walked through the city, trying to ignore the occasional glare or funny look from passing mobians. It was bothersome, but he forced himself to pay no attention.

He arrived at his house, glad to be hidden from everyone else at last. 

“Hello.” Sonic looked up to see his father in the living room as he walked in.

_ “Hi,” _ Sonic raised his hand in a small wave.  _ “How’re you?” _

“Unit is operating sufficien- Oh.” 

_ “Woah, are you ok?”  _ Sonic frowned as Jules’ response came out uncharacteristically flat and robotic.

“Yes, I just had a little blip is all.” The robian responded calmly. “It just happens occasionally. A little bit of old leftover programing resurfaces for a moment, that’s all.”

_ “I’ve never noticed it before,”  _ Sonic confessed. He supposed it was probably because he was always off and busy doing hero work.  _ “Hey so, random question but do people ever look at you weirdly?”  _

“Have people been looking at you superstitiously?” Jules asked, his mood away from calm. Sonic looked down at his feet, now feeling a bit awkward. He nodded to confirm it, yes, people had been. “That’s-” 

But no one would ever find out what ‘that’ was because at that very moment Naugus himself decided to stride in, making his presence known with a loud fake cough whilst Sonic internally yelled at himself for not properly closing the door. “Good afternoon gentlemen,” every word sounded as though it had been carefully dipped in venom. “May I have a seat?” 

_ “What do  _ **_you_ ** _ want?”  _ Sonic glared at the hideous troll, eyes melting from green to red. 

“Please control your son,” Naugus ignored Sonic and spoke directly to Jules. “Though I don’t know what he said, I doubt it was pleasant.” 

“What’re you doing here!?” A third hedgehog entere the scene, looking equally as off put by Naugus’ arrival as the other two. 

“Ah, Mrs. Hedgehog, I presume?” Naugus retained his irritatingly dismissive tone as he addressed her. “Come, sit with us. I was just about to explain an offer I had for your husband.” 

The Hedgehog family all took a seat, but none of them looked impressed. Naugus was faced with three very judging expressions as he took a seat for himself. After having his memories restored and his body controlled by magically corrupted nanites, Sonic was even more unimpressed with their ‘King’ than he had been before. “So, as you know a few weeks ago I used my magic to heal the condition of Bunnie Rabbot, one which you all thought to be permanent. And, by using that magic, I can do the same to you.”

“What about Sonic?” Jules interjected.

“I already offered it to Sonic, and he didn’t take it. I was hoping you’d be more reasonable. After all, you know what happened because of Sonic’s refusal, don’t you?” the troll dropped into a darker tone of voice for the last sentence before continuing. “All you need to do is enter a simple magical contract, put your faith in your King, and it’ll be done.”

“And why do I need to enter a contract with you?” Jules asked.

“Because that’s how the spell works,” Naugus insisted, his posture stiffening slightly.

“Bunnie didn’t need a contract,” Bernadette objected. 

_ “And you didn’t offer me one either,”  _ Sonic added. 

“Listen, you have to trust me,” Nagus struggled to keep his composure. “It’s just to make the process safer.”

“Do you want to talk at him first or should I?” Bernadette asked Jules.

“Be my guest,” Jules accepted.

“Alright you, listen.” Bernie turned to look Naugus right in the eyes. “Jules stays as a robian due to old, fatal wounds and if he’s changed back they’ll reopen and he’ll die. We know this. We’ve known this for a while but you suddenly expect him to risk a ‘magic contact’ which you clearly have more of a motivation behind than just ‘love for your subjects’. If it was just that, you would’ve offered this the same time you treated Bunnie and offered it to Sonic.” She looked away from Naugus and back to Jules. “Ok, your turn.”

“Not to mention you don’t have my respect and trust, and never will. You were the enemy of my mentor, you almost drove robians and mobians to civil war, and you’ve attacked and attempted to kill many people - including my son. So no, I’m not taking you up on your offer. The door’s behind you, now see yourself out of it.” 

Naugus growled viciously and stood up, clenching his teeth and snorting as he slammed the door open. He stormed out, muttering something about how he now knew Sonic’s annoyingness must’ve been genetic. 

“Good riddance,” Bernadette folded her arms as she watched Naugus leave. “I don’t know what he was getting at but it wasn’t a good thing. The Gods only know what would’ve happened if he’d actually gotten you into a contract.” 

_ “Not to mention he changed Bunnie back by accident,”  _ Sonic reminded.  _ “What do you recon the odds are that he would’ve had no idea what he was doing at all, and this is all just part of some evil scheme?” _

“Knowing him, I’d say it’s pretty likely he was up to no good,” Jules agreed. “But hey, we got him to leave us alone, so let’s hope that that’s an indicator the city’s not in any life threatening danger.”

  
  


“There’s that at least,” Bernie sighed with a smile as she leant back into the sofa they were all sitting on and gently rested her arms on Jules (who was sitting in the middle), and Sonic, who was sitting on the opposite side to Bernie, joined in on the hug. It was a little awkward, there were a lot of clanging and scraping sounds as metal parts collided, and Bernadette had to shift a few times to find a position that was comfortable. They were all laughing by the end of it though, albeit in their own ways; Sonic’s laugh came out as a set of rapid beeps and Jules was only capable of repeating the word ‘ha’ over and over, but it felt good. Sonic hadn’t felt this relaxed since Cream and Tails visited him at Freedom HQ all those weeks ago. It felt nice to just be sitting, not worrying about anything, with nowhere to be-

_ “Oh FU-” _

“Language!” Jules corrected. “What is it?”

Sonic looked at the time. 7PM.  _ “I’ve got to be somewhere soon!”  _ Sonic exclaimed, leaping up, and heading for the door.  _ “Bye, have a nice evening, I’ll see you later!” _

And then he was gone. 

“Never stops running, does he?” Bernie laughed as Sonic left in a moderately panicked hurry. 

___________________________________________________________________________

“Sonic, over here!” Sally waved to the robian with her one free hand, the other one being held by Nicole. Sonic ran over to his friends as they stood in the que to get into the concert, happy for an excuse to skip part of the line. "Are you excited?"

Sonic nodded for yes. He was excited. 

"I've never been to something as big as this before!" Sonic looked down, realising that Cream was standing with Sally and Nicole, too short for him to have noticed her standing there. "So I brought Mr. Dolly to the concert too!" Cream was holding the same orange stuffed animal (that still looked weirdly like Tails) that she'd been holding shortly after Sonic had gone to go and see what happened to Bunnie. It felt like it'd been an impossibly long time ago; even though the robian knew it had only been weeks it felt like months had passed. 

Sally showed the mobian checking tickets the ones that Mina must've handed to her at some point this afternoon, and then they were in. In spite of Sonic's lateness, Mina and the Forget Me Knots hadn't started yet, instead the opening act, some awful pop singer by the name of Fabian Vane, had just finished and was being booed off stage by a crowd that had more standards and taste than he'd expected. Sally made a comment about how he was 'maybe somehow worse than that Justin Beaver guy', someone in the crowd behind them that no one could be worse than Justin, and then it was quiet: the stage was set for Mina.

Beams of purple light decorated the stage as the lead singer stepped out onto the stage, dressed stylishly in a new outfit for the occasion. The mic whined as the songoose herself pulled it close to her and began to speak.

"Good evening everyone! How're we all feeling tonight!?"

The crowd roared in response. 

"That's good to hear, that's good to hear." Mina pulled the microphone out of its stand and began to pace around the stage. "So how would you feel if I played some new songs for you this evening!?" Everyone cheered, excited at the prospect. "Oh, sorry," Mina sighed, faking disappointment and pressing one hand to her ear. "My manager said you're going to have to cheer louder than that if you want to hear the new stuff. So I'll ask you all again, how do you feel about new songs tonight!?" The response was stronger and wilder this time, people screaming in a fashion that would leave their throats regretting it tomorrow.

"Good! Because tonight, every song I'm going to be playing is brand new! And, what's more, it's dedicated to two very friends of mine, who are actually here with us in the crowd right now!"

Sonic wasn't bothered by the mention, used to the spotlight by now, but Nicole turned bright red and hid behind her hair, nearly covering her entire face. Sally chucked and tenderly brushed Nicole's hair out of her eyes with her free hand, playfully reminding the lynx that she needed her eyes to see.

"Now, for my first song of the night!" Mina announced as the band began on their instrumental. "I call this one 'Strange Times'! Enjoy!"

And enjoy Sonic did. He enjoyed the song a lot, actually. It felt like a fusion between Mina's earlier pop songs, and her more recent dabbles in something more metal with 'Save Ourselves', sitting comfortably in the middle of the two. Heavier than the old pop songs, but keeping all their energy. 

He was getting pretty into it, until he was distracted by something happening next to him. “Miss Sally?” Cream pulled at Sally’s vest. “I think I dropped Mr. Dolly…”

“Hey, it’s ok,” Sally assured, patting Cream’s head gently. “We’ll find him after the concert, ok? Someone probably picked him up and is keeping him safe for you!” 

Cream nodded gratefully, and Sonic turned back to the music, wondering how Cream dropped the stuffed animal and didn’t notice.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Sir?” Geoffrey peered round the door to the throne room. “Sir?” No sign of Naugus. Geoffrey considered leaving then and there before reminding himself that he had nowhere else to go. He sucked in his breath, and fully stepped into the room. Geoffrey immediately regretted it. Naugus looked awful, worse than usual. The troll’s body was covered from head to toe with monstrous mutations, plaguing him like a disease. He did nothing but groan and growl as Geoffrey approached.

“I’ve been watching you, you know?” the skunk confessed. “I’ve been watching you all day, trying to steal a body off of someone.”

“And what of it….” Naugus hissed, eyes narrowing.

“I didn’t bring you to this city for you to ruin and corrupt its people! When I was growing up, when I thought I’d lost everything, you taught me to be strong, self-reliant, and I wanted you to bring what I saw in you then to the people of this city now. I brought you here to bring order, not chaos!” 

“What are you getting at apprentice…” 

“What I’m saying is that this is a city of good, charitable people, and I wanted you to be their leader, their King, not the next super villain!” Geoffrey stopped shouting and let his voice relax a little. “We don’t need to steal, spy or backstab anymore; the people of New Mobotropolis are generous and forgiving. They already forgave Nicole, and they’re friendly with former legionnaires and all sorts. Come to them with honesty about your mutations.”

“No...No, I can’t do that…” Naugus muttered, inching closer to the skunk. “But all this talk of the past...my dear boy, you’ve reminded me of a crucial detail that I’d forgotten about.” Two clawed hands firmly grasped the skunk’s shoulders. “You’ve been in a contract with me this whole time! You have been for years!”

“No, no, no, nonono- GET OFF OF ME!” Geoffrey shuddered as a deep chill spread around his body. He thrashed around rapidly, desperately trying to get Naugus away from him, but it was no use. Within only seconds, there was only one being in the room instead of two: a stumbling skunk with a wild grin and bloodshot looking red eyes.

___________________________________________________________________________

“Is it just me, or is there something weird behind Mina?” Sally pointed to a large screen where close up footage of the singer was being played live. A weird orange blob appeared to be lying right behind her. 

“It’s Mr. Dolly!” Cream exclaimed. “How did he get up there!?”

“I don’t think that’s an ordinary doll,” Nicole squinted at the screen. “Observe.”

Nicole was right, the form of the doll appeared to be changing, mutating, growing, until it didn’t look like a doll anymore, with its many tentacles, claws, giant stature and fang filled jaws. Thankfully Mina had thought fast, lacking her old tendencies to freeze up under pressure, she’d whisked herself, her band and Ash off of the stage with a quick burst of speed, skidding to a halt in front of Sally and the others. They weren’t easy to spot, being the only ones to hold their positions as everyone else panicked and tried to flee. 

“Ok…” Ash panted, eyes wide with shock as he stared up at the beast. “What in all God's names is that thing….?” 

Sally craned her neck to take in the monster and its design, “If I had to take a guess...I’d say it’s the reason we haven’t heard much from Eggman in a few days.”

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, to avoid confusion:  
> yes, this is still taking place in the pre sgw archie timeline, howeVER we decided to add some characters from different continuities too. i think the reason why will become a bit more apparent later. - twigs


	13. The heart and the mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are put into action

“So, what’re we looking at Charles?” The Director tapped his fingers on the table, both concerned and intrigued by the fact that there was news to be reported. 

“Well, let’s see. Naugus is mysteriously hiding, his apprentice’s eye colour changed, and we know he can possess people. I think it’s pretty cut and dry.” 

“Quite. It’s clear what’s happened, but now we need to think about _why_ it’s happened. What was the motivation behind this?” Harvey stroked his chin, pondering.

“Now that I don’t know,” Charles admitted. “But it can’t be anything good, I’m sure.”

"So," Shard spoke up between the two, "What do we do? Go up to Geoffrey and beat him until Naugus is out of him?"

“Admittedly, I’m not sure.” Harvey confessed. “Last time we dealt with someone who had been possessed, Naugus exited their body of his own will. How we force him out is its own question.” 

“I think we’ve got bigger problems than bodies being snatched right now,” a voice announced from behind the group as the wolf twins dropped into the HQ. “Leeta and I have been scouting around the edges of the city, and I think we might’ve found something big.” At her sister’s request, Leeta placed a small camera on the table for everyone to see. The Director took it, and displayed the photos for everyone to see. 

“Hey, that looks like-” Larry gasped.

“Another ritual circle…” Elias finished. “Like the one we finished off before, but bigger.” 

“But what’s he using for it…?” Hershey questioned. “Ixis Vale’s remains were destroyed when we burned down the first ritual room.”

“They were?” Shard asked.

“Yes, they were, no thanks to you,” Lyco confirmed. “Where  _ were _ you when we did that anyway? It would’ve been useful to have someone who  _ can’t be burned  _ when we were lighting that.” 

Shard almost replied ‘inside someone else’s brain’, but decided that would be too long of a story and instead settled with “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“I don’t see much to use in these pictures,” Elias commented. “Just a knife…”

“Wait...Wait!” Silver slammed his hands on the table. “What if he’s sacrificing Geoffrey for the spell? I mean, he’s probably got enough Ixis in him for Naugus to do that after all those years as his apprentice!”

“That would explain the knife…” Elias agreed.

"Well we have to-" Hershey began to speak with a raised voice, but restrained herself. "Approach the situation cautiously and rationally."

"Indeed," Harvey studied the photos. "Girls, where did you take these?" 

"He's doing it in the throne room, Lyco explained. "These pictures are at an odd angle, but if you look there you can just about make it out."

"Which means whatever he's could also affect New Mobotropolis…" Elias speculated.

"Ok, so what's our plan of action?" Shard asked. "Because all this talk's gotten me itching to go." 

"Scout out the situation first," the Director advised. "Make sure you know what you're doing first, don't just jump in without a clue. And most importantly," He shot a look at Hershey, "Stop him by  _ any  _ means necessary." 

__________________________________________________________

“ _ Uh, so, what do we do about, _ ” Sonic pointed to the amalgamation, “ _ that _ ?”

Sally signaled for Mina and Ash, “First we need an evacuation,” the Princess turned to Mina and Ash as they ran close, “can you two get everyone out of here safely?”

Mina nodded, “Yeah, no problem.” She picked Ash up in her arms and zipped through the panicking crowd to help guide it.

"That should handle the people. Now we just need to figure out how on mobius we get rid of that thing." Sally looked up at the rampaging doll again, eyes fixated on its design. "It's got to be some kind of robot, right?"

_ "Yeah! So we do what we always do, and try to find a weak point, right?"  _ Sonic suggested.

"Maybe...but I can't see any weak points from here…" Nicole observed.

"I think I've got an idea…" Cream informed. She pointed at the former doll's head. "Mr. Dolly didn't like it when his red crystal was touched. Whenever I put my hands on it, he would sting me. I think he's sensitive…"

"Maybe...but that could also be the power source!" Sally realised. "We have to try and hit it!"

"Are you sure this will work!?" Nicole asked, swerving quickly to avoid being severed by a rogue tentacle. 

"No, but it's the best lead we have, so I say let's get to it!" Everyone started rushing to the stage to fight the monster. All except Sonic.

Blue was feeling out of his depth for this one, still unfamiliar with his new form. How it operated, strengths and weaknesses, it was all unknown to him. So he handed his control over to Bot, who accepted and told him to 'watch the egg if you can'. It was weird, for the first time Blue felt… useless. He couldn’t help in a fight he fought hundreds of times. Even though he had to adapt to his new robotic body, it didn’t help him but feel just a bit useless. He wished there was some way to help. 

Bot meanwhile sprung to action, forming his arm into the cannon. He still wasn't entirely keen on it, the device having been used to hurt his friends but it seemed the most practical thing to be using right now. 

Cream was carrying Sally up to where the red gem glistened in the giant monster's head however every time they got close, a tentacle would brush them aside, beating them away. Sonic decided the most useful thing he could do right now was cover for them. He shot at the mechanical tendrils and every time he cut one off it would grow back, but his contributions were helping; Sally and Cream were managing to get higher now.

Nicole meanwhile, was managing the damage done to the city. Every time something was destroyed, she would stabilise it again, making sure the nearby buildings were sound so that everyone could evacuate as safely as possible. Well, until she was distracted.

_ "Nicole, do you copy?"  _

"Director?" Nicole heard his voice crackle through her handheld. "I'm a little busy right now!"

_ "Damn,"  _ Harvey muttered.  _ "Are you sure you can't assist right now? Our agents have run into quite a lot of trouble. We could really use a hand."  _

Nicole gritted her teeth as she stopped a wall from crushing some running mobians. She really couldn't afford to leave this place. The lynx looked around wildly, wondering if there was anyone else she could send, but there really didn't seem to be anyone - they were all preoccupied. Unless….

__________________________________________________________

Minutes before the Doll’s attack, the Secret Freedom Fighters began their mission to infiltrate the throne room. Getting there was easy, there was plenty of cover and a lot of people were preoccupied with eating tea at this time in the evening. 

The real problem was getting into the throne room itself, the place was guarded and lacked any other way to get in. So in the end, Shard decided that they should drop their 'secret agent' shtick and blew a whole in the window, opting for a more direct approach. 

Sure enough, it was some kind of ritual. The floors were lined with the thick dust of chalk, covering the entire room in a web of cryptic shapes and patterns. Larry tried rubbing the marks out with the bottom of his shoe but as soon as he smudged the marks, they repaired themselves, the dust settling back into place. It was dark, the only thing to guide the team's eyes were coloured speckles of moonlight filtering in through a stained glass window and for a few moments everyone looked around in confusion for their target.

Shard found him first, able to scan for body heat with his sensors unlike his organic teammates but it wasn’t long before they all saw him. Geoffrey's body emerged from the shadows in a terrible state; clearly switching bodies had not fixed all of Naugus' mutation problems. It wasn't too noticeable of course, the wizard had only been occupying this body for mere hours but there was no mistaking the long claws that jutted out of the skunk's powdery, chalk covered hands or the sharpened teeth that glinted harshly in the streaks of light that came from Naugus' staff (which he was gripping tightly in one hand). 

"It's over, Naugus," Elias cut straight to the point. "We know what you did and we know what you're doing. Give it up and give that body up too." 

Naugus chuckled. White eyelids slid back to reveal scarlet pupils. He dusted off his hands and drew himself up to his full height. "And what are you going to do? You've arrived too late, Freedom Fighters. The ritual is in place - you can't stop me now." It was a bizarre phenomenon, hearing him speak. There was no trace of Geoffrey, the voice had no accent and was deeper, it was all Naugus. 

"You haven't performed your sacrifice yet and it's 7 on 1, so I say bring it on!" Shard challenged, his arm cannon lighting with a pulsing ball of energy, ready to fire.

"Fools. You underestimate me," Naugus cackled. "I don't even need to rely on you not harming this body, not when I can do this!" A beam of light shot from Naugus' staff and flew at the Secret Freedom Fighters, who all moved in the nick of time.

"Oh right, he's still a super powerful wizard," Shard complained. "I forgot about that…"

"As much as I would love to play with you all using various entertaining spells, like shrinking you and squashing you like insects or swapping your bodies and watching you all blunder around blindly, I'm afraid I need to take a more direct approach today." He waved the staff and a thin purple mist wafted towards the group. "Sleep."

"Don't breathe that i-" Ealis warned but it was too late. The mist acted fast, one whiff and everyone was out. Well, everyone besides Shard.

"Oh yeah, that was reeeal smart, wasn't it Naugus?" the robot taunted. "I mean, no offence to my team but I can take you on my own!" 

Without a word, Naugus shot a load of crystal magic at Shard, trapping his legs and pinning his arms to his sides. "I stand correct," he noted whilst the wizard turned away. Once he was sure that Naugus wasn't paying attention to him, he sent out a message.

_ "Hey Director, got any ideas? We're kind of in a sticky situation right now…" _

_ _______________ _ _________________________________________

"Sonic, can I talk to you!?" Nicole called. Sonic whipped around and moved backwards towards her, though he didn't take his eyes off of his target.

“ _ Yeah, what’s up Nicole? _ ”

"I've just gotten a distress call from...someone. Shard, Silver and a team of theirs are talking on Naugus and I-"

_ "I'll go! No, we need to- But they're in trouble it sounds li- and so are we! Naugus is big trouble though!"  _

"Woah, Woah. Let me finish." Nicole eased. "I had an idea. I want to temporarily split you two up."

_ "Oh?"  _ Sonic's curiosity peaked as he blasted back another tentacle.

"I can upload one of your AIs into the city, like me. Provided that you can stay apart for long enough?" 

_ "Worth a shot! Can you do it?"  _

"Yes. Which one of you wants to go?"

_ "Me. Blue. Pre. I'll go." _

Nicole nodded and closed her eyes, redirecting her focus from the city to the robian, selecting Blue and uploading him. The air seemed to ripple as the city's nanites worked to accommodate the new AI in their system and after a few seconds, Blue had fully materialised in front of them, resembling sonic's old self.

"Woah…" Blue patted himself awkwardly. "I feel...weird." 

"Apologies," Nicole scratched the back of her head. "I did not have time to give you a complex life simulation like I have. Some things may be missing."

"Yeah, tell me about it…" Blue observed. "So, where do I need to go?"

"The throne room, but-" 

"Cool, off I go!" Blue made to speed off, but of course, it didn't work. Being made from nanites did not grant him his speed back.

"It would be better if you just teleported there!" Nicole called.

“Yeah, yeah… uh, can we not mention this to anyone…Also how do you teleport?"

"Just...just imagine yourself in the throne room and you'll get there!" 

Sonic scrunched his face up as he thought hard about that location and then faded out view to Chaos knows where.

"Don't worry," Nicole assured Bot. "He'll be fine."

_________________________________________________________________

"Damn," Shard said quietly to himself. "The Director’s really taking his sweet time with getting back up, isn't he?" 

As if Shard summoned him, Blue chose that very moment to arrive, "Sorry I'm late guys, I had a bad connection."

"No!" Naugus spun round at lightning speed. "How can you be here!? And like that!? You were a robot only hours ago!"

“Oh you know, I’m just,” he shruged a bit, “everywhere when I need to be.” He turned to Shard and gave a little wave, “Shard, good to see you.” He looked around, “Why’s everyone having a nap down there? And you fused to the floor?"

"Never rush in recklessly against a powerful wizard…" Shard explained. "Do you think you could get me out of here?"

"I'm not sure…" Blue tapped his foot against the floor and knocked one hand against the crystal. "Seems pretty hard…"

"You won't get the chance to do anything!" Naugus shrieked. A long spike of crystal came flying through the air towards Blue. It went flying straight through his chest, leaving a pixelated hole that filled itself in. 

"Wha-" even Shard was baffled. "Am I hallucinating? Can robots hallucinate?" 

"Nah, don't worry. Nicole uploaded me into the city's systems.” Blue made an 180 turn and looked at the possessed skunk, “Explains why I look normal huh? Oh I’m sorry should I have mentioned that?” He gave the skunk a confused look, “You don’t look all too well Geoffy boy? Ate something bad?” 

"My appearance is none of your concern, speedster," Naugus hissed. "Now get out of here if you know what's good for you!"

"He's possessed! Naugus is possessing him!" Shard's voice got increasingly louder. "Now get me outta here!" 

"Yeah but like...how do I do that?" Blue asked, backflipping over another wave of crystal magic. 

"You control this room!" Shard reiterated in desperation. "You're hooked up to the city!"

"Oh right, good point." Blue paused for a moment, “Quick question, how exactly do I do that?”

“You don’t know how to control the Nanites.”

Blue gave the robot a sheepish smile while rubbing the back of his head, “Yeah if I’m gunna be honest, not one of Nicole’s best plans.”

"Well, you gotta know how to do something, you teleported in here!" Shard was trying not to grow agitated but failing miserably. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know, I just thought about it."

"Then try that with this!" 

Blue wondered if it was really that easy but hey, it was worth a shot, he supposed. And so he thought about it. He imagined the floor cracking and pulling the crystals apart before repairing itself but with Shard now freed. 

And then it happened.

Something clicked inside of Blue, that useless feeling he'd gotten from losing his speed was gone. Who needed that when he could literally bend the area around him with his mind? Shard rushed behind him, focused on waking his teammates up, but Blue remained fixated on Naugus. 

Whilst he and Shard had been having their back and forth, the wizard had taken his opportunity to head over to where his knife laid ready and waiting. A pillar raised from the floor underneath where the possessed skunk was standing and smashed his body against the ceiling, before the platform vanished, leaving him to fall back down to earth. That alone would've been enough but Blue didn't want to stop there. 

As Naugus struggled to his feet, a cement fist emerged from the wall and punched him back down onto his knees. Blood splattered on the floor and Naugus' staff flew out of his hand and rolled across the floor. And still he didn't stop. Blue threw punch after punch, unable to feel not feel like everything was the wizard's fault. He made Elias leave and if he hadn't done that then Antoine wouldn't be in a coma and if he wasn't in a coma then Bunnie wouldn't have left. He banished him and Nicole from their home. He should pay, he deserved to be beaten, to die, to rot, to-

"Sonic!"

Blue’s rage faltered. A figure stood in the way of his target. A black cat in a red vest and-

"Sonic, you need to stop!" 

Her voice snapped Blue out of his thoughts again. She was so familiar and yet…

"What kind of a sick joke is this, Naugus? Hershey's dead, you think putting an illusion of her in front of me will stop me!?" He readied another fist from the wall, ready to punch right through the illusion, but stopped when he felt two pairs of arms holding his own ones back. On either side of him stood Lyco and Leeta restraining his arms. 

"She's real, Sonic," a voice from behind him confirmed. "You've done well, but stand down. We need that skunk alive." Elias stepped in front of Blue and Hershey. "Give it up, Naugus, you're done. Give Geoffrey his body back and get out of New Mobotropolis."

Blue looked at the skunk on the floor as the rest of the SFF surrounded him. He was shaking on the floor, struggling to get up and having trouble breathing. In the condition the skunk was now, he looked almost… dead. This thought seemed to snap Blue out of his blind rage. He took a few steps back after shaking the twins off him. He looked at his hands as if they had blood on them, they might as well have. The AI hedgehog jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Shard giving him a concerned look, “Hey, you ok?” Blue sputtered for words, shaking his head and gripping it with his hands. Shard was going to comfort him but the new AI teleported away before he could say anything, “Sonic! Wait!” But the words fell empty. He was nowhere in sight. Shard quickly used the communicator on his arm and made a call, “Come on answer…”

Nicole’s voice answered the call, “Hello? Shard? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah- I mean, no- well, kinda. Naugus is down… but… we need your help,” Shard looked to the spot Blue was, “More specifically… Blue needs your help.”

"Blue…?" On the other end of the line Nicole looked up at the sky to see Sally plunging a ring blade into the Tails doll's red gem. The monster screeched and struggled but it was shrinking back to normal size. "Ok. You stay there and deal with Naugus, I'll go find him."

"Awesome. We still need to find a way to get him out of Geoffrey, so I'll keep you and the Director updated on that."

The call ended. "Sally? I have something to attend to!" Nicole informed her. Sally gave her a thumbs up and Nicole went to find Blue.

_____________________________________________________________

"Get out, Naugus." Elias ordered. The twins had restrained him but they couldn't do much until the wizard and the skunk were separated.

"And why would I do that…? This body offers me an advantage, the advantage that you wouldn't  _ dare  _ kill your teammate's dearest husband." He turned to Hershey and began to mock Geoffrey's accent. "You wouldn't let them kill me, would you luv?"

Hershey hissed in rage, glaring at Naugus with daggers in her eyes. "We'll do what's necessary to stop you," Elias informed, standing strong but unable to keep his voice from wavering a little. 

"You're bluffing," Naugus drawled. "And that's what makes this so  _ perfect _ . You'll only  _ dare _ lock me up and then I'll break out and you'll never dare kill me and then I'll...I'll- I'll-" Naugus cut off. It sounded as if he was choking. "I won't let you- I- You- Let me- No-  **_YOU CAN'T STOP ME-_ ** GET OUT!" with a horrific shriek, Geoffrey's head snapped upwards, so that he was looking at the ceiling, and his mouth fell agape. Thick plumes of smoke poured from his mouth and out from his eyes, forming a vaguely Naugus-shaped cloud of purple.

“Geez where’s a vacuum when you need one,” Shard shouted. His teammates gave him a look that just said, 'Really?' Shard looked at them and said, "I'm not touching that!"

But it looked like they wouldn't be needing a vacuum anyway. The cloud formed smokey hands and started clawing and the air as if Naugus was trying to crawl his way back onto this plane of existence yet it wasn't working. The smoke began to evaporate, becoming less thick until it was nothing more than thin purple wisps that faded as they rose.

Geoffrey exhaled deeply, shuddered, then fell forward onto his hands and knees, shaking. Hershey ran to him whilst the other Secret Freedom Fighters stood back. She pulled him to his knees and checked his eyes. After finding them to be blue, she quickly wrapped her arms around him. "Hershey…?" Geoffrey rassped, his mind delirious and not yet caught up with everything. "...How? You're here and...your arms, they're so cold…..Am...Am I dead? Is that what this is?"

"No! No, you're not dead! A-And neither am I!"

“Come on Hershey… we have to take him in,” Elias said in an empathetic tone.

“Of course…” Hershey sighed as she pulled both herself and Geoffrey up. The skunk groaned, his body sore from taking such a beating but he didn’t say anything. 

“Chaos…” Larry breathed as the team made their way out of the throne room and into the cool night air. “How’re we going to explain all this to the people…?”

“Just tell ‘em what happened!” Shard said with a shrug. “‘Hey guys, your king evaporated, hope you don’t mind getting the old one back’.”

“It won’t be easy…” Elias thought out loud. “They’ll be confusion and backlash but...but I’ll overcome it.” He turned his head to the sky where the faint traces of dawn were just beginning to come out of their hiding. “Tomorrow is a new day.”

_________________________________________________________________________ 

“Blue?” The air rippled as the nanite-comprised form of Nicole materialised in Sonic’s room at his parent’s house. The room was not giant, and Blue was not hiding; Nicole spotted him with ease. He was sitting on the floor, his back to the wall staring at the ceiling. Nicole crouched down beside him but he tried moving away from her and mumbled for her to go away. Nicole persevered however, knowing that something was wrong. “Shard told me you were upset. What happened?”

“I nearly killed someone Nicole,” he sounded numb, his voice a blank slate devoid of emotions. “I went into a blind rage and couldn’t stop myself.” He turned his head to her, “... I almost…. I almost hurt Hershey…”

“I think you need to go back to your other half now,” Nicole suggested as gently as possible. “Remember, even though it feels like it, being split up doesn’t mean you’re wholly yourself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean…..?” 

“It means that you were lacking reason and rationality back there because Bot had it. You two are made to be together. Come on. I’ll put you back together, and then we can go celebrate with Sally and the others, ok?” Her voice was soothing to him. She spoke calmly and it was helping Blue’s nerves. He had expected judgement, anger, confusion but he received patience, understanding and answers. Blue leaned over and hugged her and she hugged him back, easing his worries further. 

“This is all still so new to me…” he confessed. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it…”

“I think you will,” Nicole assured. “You just need to take your time.” 

They hugged for a little longer before Nicole asked “Do you want to go back now?” Blue nodded cautiously and closed his eyes. He got a strange feeling, as though he’d become impossibly heavy and was falling like a rock before opening his eyes again to find himself in the mindscape. Bot’s egg still sat in front of the screen. Blue gently took it in his lap and as he did so the pale shell began to split open. It crumbled into tiny polygon pieces leaving a little, wide-eyed face looking up at him. It looked like a regular chao, but also not at the same time. It had tiny glowing joints on its arms and legs, much like how Bot appeared in the mindscape. It also reminded him of how the chao his father had adopted looked more robotic as time went on a bit. 

The newborn climbed into his arms, stumbling on its wobbly legs. “Hey there, little guy,” Blue smiled as the chao nuzzled him affectionately. They were pretty bold already, only a minute old and already trying to walk. Blue smirked, reminded of himself in a weird way. “You’re going to need a name, aren’t you, tough guy?”

The chao looked up at him with inquisitive eyes, wondering what their name would be. Blue glanced through the screen, catching a glimpse of his robotic arms as Bot fist pumped the air in celebration. “How about ‘Titanium’. Do you like that?” The little floating blob above the chao’s head morphed into a heart as he nuzzled Blue again, harder this time. The new life gave him a faint feeling of hope. This felt like the start of something new, something better. No more corrupt nanites or malicious kings. The sun crept over the horizon, signaling that it was a new, clear, bright morning.


	14. A new day (epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's everyone doing now?

Geoffrey would be serving his time in jail. It was frustrating, he thought as he was guided along under watchful eyes, but not unexpected. After all, back when he was put on trial a month ago he  _ had  _ been found guilty of treason. He’d only gotten out with no consequences because of Naugus. ...Naugus. He didn’t want to think about the wizard right now but it was impossible. Even  _ he _ didn’t know what had become of Naugus when he’d forced him out of his body and all he could hope was that he’d been sealed somewhere he couldn’t return from. 

Snapping himself back to reality, he became aware of two doors being shut behind him. His sentence might’ve been mercifully short but that was barely a comfort to him. Oh well. There was nothing that could be done now.

_________________________________________________________________________

“We did it!” Shard celebrated. “We got rid of the dumb, corrupt wizard!” The Secret Freedom Fighters were the happiest they’d been a good long while. Even Harvey was beaming as he watched the team, their optimism rubbing off on him too. 

“So, what’s happening now?” Lyco asked once they’d all calmed down a bit. “You know. With the city, with Elias, with...with us.” 

“Well,” Elias started. “I’ve been speaking with the Council and they’ve decided to let me back in as king of the city. This...hasn’t been announced yet, I have to make a whole speech about this and what happened with Naugus. I intend to tell them the truth. The whole truth.”

“Does that mean we’re over then…?” Larry sighed. “The Secret Freedom Fighters? That’s a shame, I was beginning to like you guys and getting to actually do stuff again…”

“Well,” Shard spoke up, “We still could. Like, maybe we could be a team that gathers information or something for the Actual Freedom Fighters. Kinda like spy stuff.”

"A secret service…" Elias stroked his chin. "I like that." 

"Well, we'll have to talk to Lupe about it…" Lyco explained.

"But we're totally in!" Leeta accepted.

"Really?" Elias asked playfully. "Thought you weren't interested New Mobotropolis?"

"Don't get the wrong idea!" Lyco corrected. "We're not into any of that 'For King, for Country' crap, but we're more than willing to protect innocent people!"

Shard smirked, "I'm obviously in. I've literally got nothing else to do in life."

"Sadly, Silver won't be able to join," Elias infofmed.

Silver, who had been zoning out, seemed to snap out of his train of thought, "Huh? Hey, why not?"

Elias shrugged, "Too young, you're only 14. Plus don't you have a home to get back to? In the future?"

"Oh, right, the future," Silver acknowledged, making it sound like he  _ hadn't  _ been thinking about his trip home all morning. His mind was split in two, torn between his perfected future and his new friends. But if they didn't want him on their team anymore then that might just be the sign he'd been waiting for to return to the future. "Yeah, I...I guess this is goodbye."

There were a number of upset faces, as if the fact that Silver would have to go home when this was all over hadn't hit them yet. Goodbyes were said, lighthearted on the outside, gut wrenching on the inside. Silver wished it wasn't, but it was time to go; even he, in all his naivety, knew that staying in one time period for too long had consequences. He might've cried but he didn't get the chance as the somewhat sickening (yet ridiculously familiar) feeling of being plummeted 200 years forwards swept him away.

The first thing he noticed about this time was that it was a clear, sunny day. Well, that was a good start; there wasn't any air pollution so thick that you couldn't see the sky this time. The next thing he noticed was that there were vehicles. He didn't exactly know what they  _ were _ , they looked to be some kind of advanced Extreme Gear tech, but that didn't matter to him right now. If there were vehicles, there had to be people, actual, living, breathing people!

He drew his eyes away from the skyline and looked around him and sure enough the streets were  _ bustling _ with people, more people than he'd ever seen in his own time before. He bounded down the street, thrilled to explore his new home. He'd actually done it. He'd actually made a good future! His excitement continued for a good while until...until he ran into something that nearly made his heart stop.

Silver had to duck behind a wall to make sure he could verify what he was seeing safely. A white hedgehog strolled down the street, dressed near identical to him with the exact same quills. He was walking with someone else, a ginger man who Silver had never seen before, but that wasn't important right now. This couldn't be right, he had to just have some kind of doppelganger, right? Maybe a twin he'd never met growing up. He listened in to their conversation, managing to catch little snippets. It all seemed fine, until the man called the white hedgehog 'Silver'.

Silver. He already existed in this timeline. Maybe he'd made some kind of mistake? He tried traveling again, this time specifically asking to go to his  _ own  _ time. 

He arrived with a loud 'fwoosh!' in...New Mobotropolis. The exact same New Mobotropolis he'd left earlier. He also happened to materialise right in front of someone, so when he dropped to his knees and began to groan, they took notice. 

"Are you...Are you alright?" Silver looked over his shoulder to be met by the concerned blue eyes of a purple hedgehog. She looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't place why.

Silver wanted to keep himself together and hold everything in but he just couldn't - it was impossible. He stuttered his words, he couldn’t say anything correctly. How could he, having just learnt that he’d become some kind of anomaly. “I-I don’t… I think…. I cannot…. I just…I don’t...I shouldn’t...Nowhere to...My time...” The poor grey hedgehog was about to break down right then and there.

Thankfully, the purple hedgehog knew what to do. She knelt down next to him and helped him up off the ground, “Hey, it’s alright. How about you come into my house for a glass of water? It’s not that far.” Silver nodded and allowed her to usher him to her home. He was too distraught to manage much else. Erased from his own time...latched onto this one. An enigma to time and space. Now that he’d begun to recover from the initial shock of the discovery, he was paying more attention to where he was - outside Sonic’s family’s house, where he’d stopped the robian from being murdered. The purple hedgehog’s familiarity clicked his head.

“There’s no one else in right now,” Bernie explained as they entered the quiet house. “You can sit down if you like, I’ll get that water.” Silver nodded and gingerly perched on the edge of a sofa feeling awkward about making himself at home in the house of someone he barely knew. Bernie came back with a glass which she handed to Silver.

“Just focus on that,” Bernadette advised. “It’s cold, right?” Silver nodded a little as he sipped. It was cold, nice and refreshing. He remained focused on the drink like she said and felt himself relax more.

“Thanks…” was all he could manage. “I needed that...even if I didn’t know it. I mean, I don’t even know how you knew, but thanks.” 

“There are a lot of traumatised people in this city…” The purple hedgehog replied. “I’m not an expert by any means but I try to help them out when I can.” She turned back to Silver. “Are you alright? You were really worked up back there.”

"I...I don’t think you'd believe me if I tried to tell you…" Silver looked down into the now empty glass. "It's a bit mind boggling." 

The lady sat next to him and looked at him, "Try me. I've seen a lot in my days."

"O-ok. Well, my name is Silver and I..Uhh...I'm from the future. 200 years into the future. And, it used to be a destroyed, ruined mess. So I spent my entire life trying to research the past and everything that led up to the wreckage which eventually led me to talking to a guy, who I now know was probably a corrupt Ixis wizard, and he sent me back in time, where I tried to kill your son and his friends over false facts from biased history books! And not only am I now an attempted murderer but in doing so, I've become attached to this time period and there's a clone of me walking around in my home and I...I can never go back there..."

"...Right." That was a lot to take in but Bernadette did her best anyway. “Well… it’s not, entirely the weirdest backstory I have heard thus far.”

Silver gave her a perplexed look, “Not the weirdest? How is that not the weirdest.”

“You met my son… right?” Bernie asked.

“...Yesss?” Silver said, extending the word, “I kinda, almost, sorta, tried to kill him?”   
  
Bernie returned Silver’s perplexed look before letting out a small awkward laugh, “Well you’re not the first, nor the last most likely to answer that way, either way you  _ have _ met some of his friends right?” The smile on Bernie’s face just made Silver think of all the mobians he had met.   
  
_ Wow,  _ there have been a lot of weird people he’s encountered, not even including the SFF.

“I don’t think there’s anyone truly ‘normal’ around here,” Bernie continued. “But that’s beside the point. I suppose the real question is what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t...I don’t...I-I...I don’t know…”

“Ok, let’s try something else. Don’t think about the whole future right now. How about just today? What are you going to do today?”

“Right. Well, I suppose I should try and find somewhere to stay, even if it’s temporary, because I don’t exactly have anywhere to go right now.” Silver decided, thinking of the practical. 

“We do have a bed that doesn’t get much use anymore here, if you need it?” Bernadette suggested. “Sonic doesn’t really need it anymore…”

“ _ I don’t need what now? _ ” The blue bot poked his head from around the corner.  _ “Also what’s Silver doing here?” _

“Your bed. Since you’re not sleeping anymore.” the purple hedgehog explained. “And Silver here’s just looking for somewhere to stay for a bit because he can’t go back to his own home.”

“That is, if you don’t mind of course…” Silver added nervously. 

“Of course not! Why don’t I show you where it is, you can-”

BAM!

The door was nearly blown off its hinges as it slammed open with a tremendous force. Sally ran in, looking majorly out of breath. “Sonic! It-it-it- It’s Antoine! He’s waking up!” Sonic beeped in an unexpected wave of happiness and dashed for the door, wanting to waste no time.

“Sonic, wait!” the robian’s mother handed him the small translating device Tails had made for others to understand his way of talking. “You’ll be wanting this, I expect.” Sonic nodded, accepting the device gratefully, before running with Sally for the hospital. He could hardly contain his happiness as they sped through the doors and onto Antoine’s ward. The coyote was already awake, chatting to Rotor, Nicole, Tails, and Amy.

"Hey…" Sally tapped on Sonic's shoulder plate as they hung in the doorframe. "Just...Just go easy on him because...because you know, it was Metal Sonic who did it and you kind of…" she trailed off mid-sentence. "Never mind. Forget that."

Sonic trailed behind Sally as they came in and said their hellos. A pang of pain overcame the robian when Antoine noticeably flinched upon seeing Sonic initially, before the coyote then relaxed a little. 

"Bonjour," Antoine offered them a small wave. "It is good to see you." He didn't get a chance to say much else as both Sonic and Sally went in for hugs simultaneously. Antoine gasped but didn’t protest when they both wrapped their arms around him tightly. In Sonic's case, maybe a little bit too tightly. 

"Sonic…" Sally whispered, sounding a little strangled. "Maybe ease up a little."

“ _ Oops _ ,” he smiled sheepishly and let go, “ _ sorry, got too excited _ ."

Antoine wheezed as Sonic let him go, short of breath. "You are looking a lot shiner than you were ze last time we spoke." The coyote remarked. Sonic titled his head and let out a noise of confusion. Did Antoine not remember or… "Do not worry. Zat was my attempt at a joke. Bunnie told me all about it while ze scientists were looking at you."

Everyone grew quiet at the mention of Bunnie. Obviously Antoine had noticed she wasn't present but he had yet to ask about her.

"Antoine...Bunnie is…" Sally tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "Bunnie's gone missing. We don't know where she is or what she's doing. We just know that she said she had something important to be doing."

“We’ve been keeping an eye out whenever we go outside the city though,” Amy assured. “We’ll find her, I promise!”

“Merci. I would like to help too, once ze doctors say I can help again.” 

“Of course,” Sally accepted. “But only once you’re fit to go. I don’t want you getting seriously hurt again.”

The conversation became lighter from there on out, just a group of reunited friends having a lighthearted chat and not worrying about anything for once. They only left after being ushered out by doctors who needed to perform some checks on Antoine. After that they all went to do their own thing - Rotor and Tails to go and work on Chaos only knows what mad inventions, Sonic back home to chill, Amy to go and deliver the good news to Cream and Vanilla and Sally to go meet Elias, Meg and Alexsis with Nicole tagging along. 

The reunion went well, Sally gave big hugs to both her brother and sister-in-law and said hello to Alexsis, who cooed happily. 

“We’ve got a lot to catch up with, don’t we?” Elias laughed warmly as they walked back towards their old home. 

“Yeah! You go first, because I’m sure you’ve got lots to tell, what with how busy you’ve been today,” Sally offered.

“Oh there’s a lot to say for sure, but I’ll try and keep it simple,” Elias agreed. “First of all, yes, I am staying as King. The council voted over it, and it went through, so there’s that.” Sally offered him a smile of congratulations and waited for him to continue. “There’s also something else I’m putting together, a secret service of sorts.”

“A secret service?” Nicole’s curiosity peaked.

“Yes. I’ve just been thinking. You and your team do a lot, but you operate on a worldwide, multidimensional scale, you can’t always be around. This team, they’ll be there when you guys simply can’t stretch yourselves.”

“Interesting…” Sally said as she thought. “I’m interested to see where you take this.”

“Thanks. Now how about you, what have you been up to?”

“Oh you know, lots of stressing, beating back alien birds, kicking Dark-Egg legion butt, destroying evil killer dolls. So the usual, basically.” 

“Heh. Anything else?” Elias spoke jokingly, making light of her jam-packed month, but it gave Sally a tiny nervous flutter in her chest. She had planned on telling him when he got back…

“Uh, yes, actually. Nicole and I started dating.” 

“Sweet. How’s it going?”

“Well our first proper date got crashed by an Eggman robot,” Sally laughed. “But other than that it’s going well!”

And they continued to walk, all feeling happier than they’d been in a while. Things really felt like they were getting back on track now.

_______________________________________________________________________

Things might’ve been on the mend, but all was not perfect. Though Geoffrey had done a good job of making sure Naugus wouldn’t cause any more harm to the citizens of New Mobotropolis, he is not gone for good. He is barely himself, no more than a hivemind of screaming voices and Ixis magic without a stable form, but he exists and, more importantly, he is angry. And there’s something, no,  _ someone, _ else trapped wherever he is with him that’s been preparing to take advantage of him.

An ancient God lies trapped here, and they’re growing restless. The planet being weakened by the Doctor messing with time has made them restless. It has been too long since they were last awakened and they tire of this prison. But  _ him _ , this odd creature who is almost entirely made up of powerful magic? He could prove very useful indeed. The surface of the planet begins to tremble as this ancient God forces its way free.

_________________________________________________________________________

Metal was not looking forward to this. Stuck in a weakened state against his will and demoted to a low rank because of it. How fun. 

He squinted as bright lights hit his eyes while walking into the base he’d been assigned to. Wow, you could tell this place was new. No signs of repaired damage or Freedom Fighter vandalism; everything was in good shape. Now, where to go to find Thunderbolt…

“ _ There  _ you are!” 

Ah. There she was.

Metal saw her headed in his direction and his immediate thoughts were all about how  _ small  _ she was. He’d only ever seen her in her battle mech and it was jarring to know that she barely reached his hip. 

“You have no idea how thrilled I am to have you here.” Thunderbolt exclaimed. “I mean can you believe it!? Not even a month into this position and Lord Eggman has already trusted me with his greatest creation! He must be super proud of me!”

_ “I don’t know if ‘proud’ is the word I’d use,”  _ Metal thought.  _ “More like annoyed.”  _ But he kept that to himself. At the very least it was nice to hear someone acknowledge that he had been Eggman’s finest weapon. He hoped Thunderbolt would agree that him being changed into his current form was a mistake too. 

“Hey, are you sick or something?” Thunderbolt frowned as she looked up at Metal. “You don’t look well.” 

“Sick?”

Thunderbolt nodded, “Yes. When was the last time you slept? Ate? Drank?”

“I do not indulge in those activities.” 

“You what!? How are you not dead?” 

Metal shook his head as if to say that he had no answer. Thunderbolt led him further into the base muttering to herself as they went. “Why would he not...that doesn’t make sense...unless...Aha! This is a test of loyalty! A test of management! He wishes for me to prove that I can take care of and run things!”

Metal doubted that Eggman had planned this but didn’t want to fight with his new boss on day 1. Besides she’d changed the topic now.

“These are the living quarters,” Thunderbolt explained. “I’ll show you around to make sure you know how to take care of yourself.” The main area consisted of a small common room of sorts. She led him to a big, walk-in cupboard off to the side of them, stacked wall to wall with various foods with a fridge/freezer sitting in the back. “The food stores. You should probably get yourself something now, before you collapse from hunger.” Accepting her offer, Metal wandered into the place. He looked around before quickly finding himself gravitating towards a very specific packet of biscuits. He knew that label well, he’d always share these with V-

Woah. Metal clutched his ears, trying to figure out what just happened. As soon as that weird line of thought had come around, it had vanished again, leaving him confused. What was that?

“Once you have something to eat and something to drink, you should get some sleep.” Thunderbolt snapped Metal out of his confusion. He nodded in response but he wasn't fully there. His mind was still trying to figure out what just happened.

He'd seen a face in his mind when it'd happened but that face was gone now, only a smudged mess of colours that were somewhat head-shaped remained. Metal sifted through people he'd seen, examining them in his mind's eye but every time he thought he'd remembered that face, he was wrong. He knew what this strange person  _ didn't  _ look like but not what they did.

“Oh dear, you really mustn’t have been looking after yourself properly. You’re all dazed and confused,” the chinchilla took a bottle of water from the fridge and gave it to him, “being organic means you have to do things we do. So I’ll have some of the soldiers check on you to make sure you're eating, drinking water and sleeping the correct hours. Can't exactly have you dropping dead, can I? What kind of loyal helper to our glorious Lord Eggman would I be if I indirectly killed you!?"

Metal thought that dropping dead sounded like a great idea but kept that to himself. Someone as dedicated to Eggman as Thunderbolt would probably report any misbehaviours immediately and Metal did not want to clash with the mad scientist again so he just agreed to everything she said. 

He was about to go and locate a tap when the floor began to shudder. Food items on the shelves rattled around until a lot of them came crashing onto the floor. Cries of confusion and panic could be heard from soldiers in other parts of the facility. Metal and Thunderbolt both dropped to their hands and knees to try and stabilise themselves. 

"Are we moving ahead with the plans sooner than anticipated?" Metal asked no one in particular.

"Seems like it…" Thunderbolt agreed. "His Lordship does like to keep us on our toes, doesn't he?" 

**_"Attention all Dark Egg Legion units,"_ ** Eggman's voice crackled over the bases' many bases.  **_"I won't get into it, but it seems like the planet's been nice and done my job of breaking its already unstable surface for me. Get everything ready. We're moving on with our plans."_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!!!!!!! just for clarification, **we are not done**  
> as we kept planning the fic the story kept getting longer and longer until we eventually decided it would be better to make this as a series! so stay tuned for the next part - shattered world!   
> -twigs

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you all enjoyed this! get ready because we've already got plans for chapter two! - twigs


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